Uttarakhand Transport Corporation in financial jeopardy with its employees not paid salaries since December. Interstate bus services stopped
The Uttarakhand’s transport corporation is in real financial jeopardy due to the prevailing Covid 19 situation with its majority of the employees not having given salaries after December including stoppage of pensions to the retired employees.
The transport corporation’s condition and financial health is in such a bad shape that while on the one hand the entire interstate bus services including plying of buses inside the state expect on fixed have been stopped completely the expenditures n expenses are putting tremendous burden every month on the corporation with Uttarakhand Parivahan Nigam coming under the financial burden of Rs three hundred crores.
The transport corporation’s future seems to be extremely bleak as about seven thousand employees’ families are anxiously looking forward for their survival n sustenance especially in view of the incessant demands for pending salaries. In view of the burden of Rs Three hundred crores on the transport corporation as per the statement of its MD Deepak Jain the retired employees too could not be given their financial dues etc.
lockdown n curfew during the pandemic times since last year with the second wave coming again leading to more than four thousand fatalities n nearly 20 thousand infections, the bus services in the state have been adversely affected and now the complete stoppage of the interstate bus services have further resulted in the heavy financial losses to Uttarakhand financial corporation.
The 300 crore burden of credit on UTC from March 2020 to date is further expected to enhance keeping in view the forthcoming bad times due to the ongoing pandemic. In addition to all this, the Corporation is not able to pay back the loan taken while purchasing three hundred Tata and Ashok Layland buses recently.
In view of all these shortcomings due to Covid 19 the income from Uttarakhand Transport Corporation has come down to its lowest ebb said it’s MD Deepak Jain as per the Dainik Jagran report. It may be recalled that bus services in other states in the country have also been badly hit due to prevailing pandemic with Uttar Pradesh, the largest state also suffering badly.
The Employees union Leader Ashok Choudhary has demanded Rs 500 crores financial support from the Uttarakhand government to meet the losses of 300 crores as well as paying of salaries to its employees as well as the retired employees as the future n existence of its 7000 employees is at stake.
They gave an offer to the state government to use the UTC land lying unused to generate financial resources if any. The state is also suffering from a fiscal deficit of Rs. 6,673 as per the govt’s estimates for 2019, 20 though the various media reports claim it to have crossed 50 thousand crores with the state given the annual interest to the tune of nearly seven thousand crores against the borrowings from IMF, SDB n other sources.
Pic : Wikiwand.com
