Addressing a news conference, Almeida appealed the KTC employees not to go ahead with the proposed strike, as it will affect the commuters and Ganesh festival in the State.
“All the demands and proposals of the employees are placed before the government and the corporation is waiting for a favourable feedback,” said Almeida.
“KTC has already paid festival advance to the staff and as far as their demand for bonus is concerned, KTC is running into losses, due to which KTC cannot give bonus to the employees,” stated Almeida.
“If KTC had to run into profit, then there was no reason to deny bonus to the staff. KTC is struggling to come out of loss and even requested bank to grant one-time settlement plan to KTC so that we can clear the loan. KTC has minimised the losses by introducing various schemes,” informed Almeida.
“Following the request, the bank allowed us to make one-time settlement and we paid Rs 40 crore and saved about Rs 7.5 crore in the form of waiver from the bank,” he said.
As far as Golden Jubilee bonus is concerned, Almeida said corporations are not entitled for such bonus however, the proposal is sent to the government for consideration.
“All the employees of the corporation are paid arrears of one instalment out of the seven instalments of the sixth pay commission in September 2013,” he informed.
He further said due to mining ban, the State government is facing financial crunch and the corporation cannot avail financial support from the government.
“The corporation has cleared all the dues of the employees, who retired from April 2012 to August 2013,” he added.
Almeida further informed that remuneration of daily wage drivers and cleaners has increased double the amount they used to receive earlier.
While urging the KTC employees to withdraw their strike, Almeida said as per law the employees should serve 15 days notice before going ahead with the strike, which the employees have failed to do so.
