In an announcement on Monday, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) announced that salaries are beginning to be disbursed to employees. They should start receiving the money in their accounts later today (Monday), KSRTC officials said.
A row had been brewing between KSRTC employees and management over the non-payment of salaries for weeks. To resolve the crisis, Kerala government recently sanctioned Rs 30 crore for the Corporation.
Apart from this sum, the debt-ridden KSRTC has also taken out an overdraft of Rs 42 crore and Rs 7 crore from the company's reserves.
The company claims the salary payment was delayed due to last week's bank holidays on account of Good Friday and Vishu.
Officials say that this resulted in a delay in the transfer of Rs 30 crore that the government had asked for. It remains to be seen if workers will carry out their indefinite strike starting on April 28.
As previously reported, CITU and employees' unions (part of the AITUC) had called strikes due to KSRTC's mismanagement and nonpayment of salaries. KSRTC is required to pay salaries to employees by the 5th of every month.