3 years on, HRTC yet to clear Rs 65 crore dues of employees

Shimla, May 10

The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has not made payment of overtime work done by drivers and conductors working for the transport corporation for the past nearly three years.

Staff (drivers and conductors) members of the HRTC have held demonstrations and strikes on numerous occasions in the past when payment was not released but this did not yield any positive response from the corporation. Outstanding dues run into crores of rupees and have been mounting with each passing year.

As per an estimate, the transport department has been sitting on outstanding dues of overtime work done by driver and conductors of HRTC to the tune of Rs 65 crores for the past three years.

Maan Singh Thakur, state president of HRTC Drivers’ Union, said, “We have not received overtime work payment from the Transport Department for past three years. Out of total 7,000 regular as well as contractual drivers and conductors of the HRTC, around 5,000 have worked overtime in these past three years but have not received payment for the same till now. We demand that outstanding dues worth Rs 65 crore should be cleared as soon as possible failing which we would be forced to start another agitation.”

It is learnt that the HRTC union members were to start an agitation over non-payment of overtime work this past week but deferred stir after an assurance of a meeting with a senior official of the HRTC. They have threatened that if the meeting remains inconclusive then they would start an agitation and also stop working during night hours.

Thakur added, “We have also demanded that for the night duty (overtime), the payment must be increased from Rs 130 to Rs 220. The state government provides DA to employees of other departments but we have not got this either. Our salaries are getting delayed. Whenever we approach the higher authorities with our demands, they cite poor fiscal health of the HRTC for not clearing our pending dues.”

Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director, HRTC, said, “We have scheduled a meeting with representatives of the HRTC union to discuss the matter. We have written to the government for release of funds a number of times but did not get these. HRTC’s financial health is not good and there are liabilities worth hundreds of crores of rupees.”