KSRTC struggles to pay salary to its staff, the situation improvs slowly

Bangalore, April 12: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) may be the lifeline of transport for bus commuters but the irony is that the KSRTC which is serving almost the state is not in a position to pay salary on time to its employees whose, livelihood is dependent on It.

Although the KSRTC runs long distance buses enabling citizens to move from one place to another. Also, prior to Covid 19, the KSRTC was running about 500 Volvo air condition buses and it is the revenue spinner to the KSRTC.

Due to the lockdown during the Covid 19 public transport was completely stopped and air-conditioned Volvo was a strict NO.

Even after the Covid situation came to normalcy, the air-conditioned buses took longer than usual to hit to the streets. Also, public were not easily accepting to commute on Volvo buses.

Fortunately, what started as one two Volvo buses now over 300 buses are being run. Slowly, the situation is coming to normalcy. The corporation has also started to earn revenue, said sources in KSRTC.

The operation cost required for run the KSRTC is Rs. 7 crore per day. Of this 5.5 crore goes towards diesel every day. Rs. 80 crore is needed for salary alone every month.

The state government has supported for the last two years during Covid 19. Now, the KSRTC cannot depend on the government anymore.

Although the KSRTC is earning revenue due to arrears with regard to diesel payments and other payments the revenue is insufficient. It is necessary that state has to support KSRTC with one time grants, said sources.

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