Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has clarified that the salaries of all KSRTC employees were paid on August 1, and the staff of other RTCs will get paid on August 7 as has been the general practice. He was reacting to the allegations that transport staff have been paid only half the salary.
Speaking to media persons here on Friday, Reddy said that there have been instances where the employees were not paid for nearly a month during the BJP-led government.
“In the past, there have been instances when the staff were paid salaries by 25th of a month. In some cases, the salaries were credited nearly a month late,” he said.
Reddy added that the ridership in the RTCs had improved since the launch of the Shakti scheme. According to the data, 59.38 crore people have travelled in the government-run buses since the announcement of the scheme and of this, 32.16 crore are women.
The free travel scheme has cost the exchequer close to Rs 749.3 crore so far. Further, the data also revealed that the average number of people travelling in government buses daily increased from 84.91 lakh before Shakti, to 109.95 lakh after the launch of the scheme.
Recruitment
Pointing out that close to 16,000 posts were vacant in the Transport department, Reddy said that process has been set in motion to fill 13,000 vacancies.
He said there had been no recruitment for the past seven years.