PANJIM: A delegation led by Chandrakant Chodankar, President of KTC Drivers and Allied Employees Association Wednesday, met Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, and presented him a memorandum with a request to raise their concerns and issues in the upcoming Assembly Session. Quepem MLA Altone D’ Costa was also present. The Leader of Opposition assured them to be their Voice in the upcoming Assembly.
The delegation consisted of Nacimento Lobo, Ulhas Naik, Manish Tandel, Suchita Dhakankar, Atmaram Gawas and Sanjay Amonkar.
The memorandum submitted to the Leader of Opposition has listed core issues such as signing Settlement and Non-Payment of Arrears, restoration of Provident Fund at 12 percent on total salary, immediate procurement of 250 new buses by Kadamba Transport Corporation, stopping out-sourcing of interstate routes, review of electric buses, discontinuation of Mhaji Bus Scheme.
Though 7th Pay Commissions recommendations have been implemented, the KTCL Management has not signed the Wage Settlement with KTC Drivers & Allied Employees Association (AITUC) and has also failed to pay the arrears of 7th Pay Commission of 34-months, the memorandum stated.
The memorandum further points out that since 184 buses out of 400 buses will be scrapped, KTC will have to operate with only 216 buses. The association has demanded to procure 250 new buses by making budgetary provisions.
The inter-state routes such as Goa-Shirdi and Goa-Mumbai have been outsourced to a third-party contractor. Both these routes are profit-making routes. We demand that both these routes be operated by KTCL by procuring new luxury buses on these routes, states the memorandum.
The newly inducted electric buses fleet in KTCL are becoming unviable. The KTCL management should look into the issue very seriously to ensure that they don’t become ‘White Elephants’. However, the electric buses must be run by KTCL management and they should be maintained/repaired and manned by KTCL employees at all times, states the memorandum.
We vehemently oppose the ‘Majhi Bus Scheme’ and call upon the government to keep the scheme in abeyance since this scheme is not in the interest of KTCL and its employees, the memorandum declared.
