Pay revision, disbursal of pension in time sought

Despite the revision effected in bus fare, various arrears due to the retired employees were still lying in cold storage.

Office-bearers and members of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Staff Federation met at Dindigul in which many resolutions were passed. The meeting was presided over by the state president T.V. Padmanabhan. General secretary T. Thirumalaisamy, treasurer M. Karthikeyan, vice-president M. Shahjahan and joint general secretary S. Sampath participated

Releasing the copies of the resolution here on Wednesday, the members said that the TNSTC (Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation) management had in the past maintained that the dues to the employees who had completed service would be disbursed when the revenue rose up to meet the huge arrears' list.

Though the Jayalalithaa government had announced disbursal of dearness allowance without any arrears with effect from July 2011 on the lines of the state government employees, the TNSTC management had not given any effect to it. On the contrary, it had been buying time from the employees' unions under one pretext or the other. The recent revision in the bus fare had augmented the revenue for the corporation, the members pointed out.

There were undue delays in disbursal of pension. Similarly, there were delays in getting Provident Fund withdrawal/loan for the serving employees. These monetary welfare measures should be set right as it would enable the employees in keeping up the morale, which helps improve productivity.

The meeting urged the corporation to fill vacancies in maintenance, general administration wings of the TNSTC as they had been lying without regular posting for nearly a decade. Further, the workload for the existing employees had increased manifold. Suggestions like reduction in incentives, bhatta and interest on provident fund too had pushed the employees to a corner. In a bid to fight it out and draw the attention of the state government, the meeting resolved to stage demonstrations in front of their offices on January 25, 2012.

Even after arriving at an agreement on the revision of pay scale structure for categories such as driving instructors, foreman and ticket checkers, the “lackadaisical” attitude of the corporation came in for sharp criticism at the meeting. The members demanded the management to immediately implement pay revision for the employees.

The meeting also urged the central government to render justice in Mullaperiyar dam row.