Issue over pay for bus crew will end soon: Laxman Savadi

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi on Saturday said the issue of non-payment of salaries to the state-run transport corporations would be resolved in the next three or four days.

Though important festivals are lined up this month, the KSRTC and the BMTC employees have not received the salary as the corporation has been running in huge losses due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown and the limited passengers allowed to maintain social distancing.

Speaking to reporters in Belagavi, Savadi, who holds the transport portfolio, said, “There were some issues related to the payment of salaries but it will be resolved in the next three or four days.”

Savadi said the department has incurred massive loss due to the outbreak of coronavirus. The salaries were borne by the state government for the next two to three months but after that it was agreed upon by the state government and the transport department to share the burden of salaries of employees at a ratio of 75 and 25 respectively.

“With that arrangement, we paid four months salary but this month is a big challenge because our revenues have dried up and we are running in loss. When we sent the proposal to the Finance Department to bail us out as per the agreement, they returned it,” Savadi said.

According to him, the proposal has been sent to the finance department again. Sources in the transport department said the annual spending on salaries is around Rs 325 crore.