Chennai: Transport workers across state were delighted, after Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday announced Deepavali bonus to the tune of Rs 215.99 crore, which would benefit 1.44 lakh employees of the state-run transport corporations.
An official press release said that the Chief Minister, said that a whopping 1.44 lakh employees of the transport corporations would receive a bonus of 20 per cent including 11.67 per cent ex-gratia. "Interestingly, the Chief Minister also issued orders that the subsidy provided by the government to the transport corporations would continue enabling them to meet the additional expenditures incurred due to rise in fuel costs," the release noted.
"In order to meet the additional expenses between January 20 and September 30, 2018, the government announced a subsidy of Rs 198.66 crore to the transport corporations," read the statement.
Admitting that even as the transport corporations have landed in the financial crisis, the state government was keen to release arrears to the tune of Rs 251.2 crore that would benefit the retired employees of the corporation, the release pointed out.
Earlier, state transport minister M.R Vijayabaskar, while addressing the media, said "the government has been taking measures to address the grievances aired by transport employees. Moreover, we are operating buses at minimum fare only."
When asked about exorbitant fares collected by omni buses, the minister replied that even though there was no prescribed fare for omni buses undet Motor Vehicle Act, they would be monitored.
"Since the government is operating 22,000 state-run buses, passengers can use such buses," he said, thanking the state government for allotting bonus and other benefits to the transport workers.
Earlier, the MTC workers staged sit-in protests in the depots. "We staged such protests to turn its attention on our side, since Deepavali is round the corner," said a transport employee.
At a time, when labour department called transport union leaders for holding second round of talks, such announcement of bonanza will prevent transport workers from going on strike.
