The government-owned Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), which is already facing financial woes, has incurred a revenue loss of Rs.28 lakh owing to the indefinite strike by employees since Saturday.
As many as 120 buses went off the roads in the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. A total of 634 employees, including drivers, conductors and mechanics owing allegiance to various trade unions have demanded immediate disbursal of pending salary to withdraw the strike.
The PRTC management held talks with the striking unions on Monday. However, no breakthrough was reached.
N. Gnanasegaran, Chairman of PRTC, said that the management had already deposited Rs.60 lakh on Saturday to meet the salary requirements of drivers and conductors. However, the drivers are refusing to ply the buses seeking salary for all employees including mechanics and those working in the administrative section.
“We have obtained a grant-in-aid of Rs.57 lakh from the government. This will be credited into the Treasury and the employees can withdraw their salary in a day or two,” Mr. Gnanasegaran said. He pointed out that PRTC was not making any profit on the local routes in the city and those in the Yanam and Mahe regions.
“We have been doing a balancing act and operating services despite not incurring profit. The fleet staffers are given higher salary compared to the transport corporations in other States,” he said.
P. Lakshmanasamy, convener of the Joint Action Committee of PRTC Workers and Employees Federation, said that the management’s intention was not to solve the problem. They wanted to project PRTC as a loss-making unit and put the blame on the workers. A high-level inquiry should be conducted into the revenue loss.
The Finance Department had clearly directed the Corporation to open a separate account head for salaries. However, the PRTC failed to implement the directive. The revenue collection had come down from Rs.9 lakh on an average to Rs.6.5 lakh. “The operation of vehicles on non-profitable routes by the management has led to the present situation. We will participate in negotiations only after salary is released to all employees,” Mr. Gnanasegaran said.
