Amid the controversy over the delayed distribution of salaries of employees, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) set a new benchmark in the daily collection of the corporation by netting a record daily revenue of ₹8.79 crore on September 4, the first day after the Onam vacation. The previous record daily collection was ₹8.48 crore fetched on January 16, 2023, during the Sabarimala pilgrimage season.
Similarly, the public utility has netted a total revenue of ₹70.97 crore during the 10-day Onam season from 26 August to September 4. Of this, the corporation received over ₹7 crore daily collection in five days (₹7.88 crore on 26 August, ₹7.58 crore on 27 August, ₹7.11 crore on 31 August, ₹7.79 crore on 1 September, and ₹7.29 crore on 2 September). The KSRTC has set an ambitious target of ₹9 crore as a daily collection to meet its operational expenses.
Biju Prabhakar, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), KSRTC, said in a statement that the daily collection of ₹9 crore could be achieved by bringing more buses into service. But the delay in getting more new buses was the main hindrance, he said. Although the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) had sanctioned ₹814 crore to procure new buses, the corporation has not yet received the sanctioned amount due to the objection of the Finance department.
The employees at the corporation were on a warpath ahead of Onam after the public utility failed to disburse the salary for the month of July on time in August. Later, the salary was distributed just two days before the commencement of the Onam vacation after a meeting of three ministers - Transport Minister Antony Raju, Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, and Labour Minister V. Sivankutty - with union leaders in Thiruvananthapuram. The corporation requires around ₹72 crore alone to foot the salary bills of the employees.
