The cash-strapped Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has diverted the monthly contribution of personnel towards pension and the transport undertaking’s share towards the National Pension System to meet other expenses.
The KSRTC has diverted the pension contribution of ₹59.83 crore deducted from the monthly salary of the personnel on the rolls.
The KSRTC has also not paid the matching share for the last 38 months to the contributory pension scheme introduced in April 2013. It has diverted ₹119.66 crore for honouring commitments such as salary.
It has also come to light that the utility has diverted ₹22 crore from the monthly salary of the employees towards insurance premium of the LIC, housing and vehicle loans of banks and financial institutions since November 2018. This is despite the High Court directive to the KSRTC not to use such funds for other purposes in a case filed by Transport Democratic Front (TDF) working president R. Sasidharan, sources told The Hindu .
The KSRTC, which is going through one of the worst crises in its history due to the dip in revenue from the fleet, has suffered another jolt too. The ₹47 crore it had parked in the treasury as asked by the Supreme Court, by setting aside 10% of its daily revenue, was used by the cash-strapped government.
Benefits delayed
This has delayed settlement of pension benefits such as gratuity and Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity (DCRG) of those retiring from the KSRTC, sources said. Only those who approach the court are being given the benefits. Repeated requests of the Chairman and Managing Director of the KSRTC to the government to make available the ₹47 crore has not yielded any response, sources said.
