Mumbai: After Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took initiative, The remaining 44% salary of Maharashtra State Transport (ST) employees will be disbursed by the upcoming Tuesday.
According to media reports MSRTC employees received only 56% of their salary in April month, which led to widespread discontent among them. During his visit to Sangola Taluka in Solapur district on Thursday, several ST employees met Shinde and urged him to ensure that their pending wages be released promptly.
Responding to their concerns, Shinde immediately contacted Finance Secretary Omprakash Gupta to discuss the issue. Following the conversation, Gupta assured that the remaining 44% of the salary will be paid by Tuesday.
Even as ten days of April has passed, employees of the MSRTC Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation ( MSRTC) have received 56 percent of their salaries the corporation has now decided reason of financial constraints. There is no clarity in the verbal orders regarding the remaining amount, which has led to outrage among various unions representing ST workers.
The government provides a subsidized value compensation amount to the corporation every month for employee salaries. However, for the past several months, the necessary funds have not been received as per the demand, making it difficult to pay salaries. This year, despite receiving reduced funds, the corporation had to pay Rs. 40 crore to the MSRTC Bank towards employee loans, further worsening its financial crisis.
Employee deductions such as Provident Fund (PF), gratuity, bank loans, LIC premiums, etc., totaling approximately Rs. 3,500 crore, have been deducted from salaries but not transferred to the respective institutions by the corporation. The total outstanding dues of the ST Corporation, including dues to employees and others, have crossed Rs. 7,000 crore.
This year, the corporation had requested Rs. 925 crore from the government for March salaries and other outstanding dues, but only Rs. 272.96 crore was received. Out of this, Rs. 40 crore was given to the MSRTC Bank to repay employee loans.
As a result, only 56% of the March salary will be disbursed to the 87,000 employees. ST officials have stated that action regarding the remaining salary will be taken as per instructions from higher authorities.
Meanwhile, the employee unions are furious over receiving reduced pay after such a long delay, and some have even started preparing for protests.
