HRTC staff given salary; pension soon

Shimla, June 15

A day after Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu tweeted that a manipulated campaign was being run from Delhi to malign the image of the state over the salary of HRTC staff, the salary has been disbursed to around 12,000 HRTC employees. “The salary has been disbursed to all the employees. In the next few days, the pensioners, too, would get their pensions,” said Sandeep Kumar, MD, HRTC.

The CM alleged a manipulated campaign against the state after a few TV channels started running a story about the delayed payment on Wednesday, linking it to the guarantees/freebies offered by the Congress ahead of the polls. “We have been in the government just for six months, but the HRTC salary issues are there from the time of the BJP government. The BJP did not even pay the night and overtime allowance of the HRTC employees over the last three years, which we have stared clearing,” said Sukhu.

Khemender Gupta, secretary of the HRTC Joint Coordination Committee, said the corporation owed hundreds of crores to the employees, mainly in the form the arrears of the 6th Pay Commission. “Besides, the delay in disbursement of salary is nothing new. During the BJP government, salary was disbursed in the last week of the month on a few occasions,” he said.

As HRTC runs in losses, the government offers a grant of around Rs 70 crore to the corporation every month to meet its salary and pension liabilities. The salary is disbursed when the government releases the grant.