JOIN USAfter a long wait of four months, a section of employees of crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) today received part of their pending salaries.
"Some of the junior staff have finally been paid (their dues). But they have received only one month basic salary," an airline staffer said.
The payment comes following KFA Chairman Vijay Mallya's assurance to the employees on Monday that their dues would be paid in a staggered manner by April 10.
On Monday, a section of KFA employees, mainly pilots, engineers and cabin crew staff, had threatened to strike work if the management of the private carrier did not pay their dues by Tuesday evening. They later relented following a late night meeting with Mallya.
Appealing to the agitated employees not to strike work, Mallya reiterated his promise of clearing the salary dues of junior staff, including those involved in ground handling and security, by April 4 and of the pilots and engineers by April 10. The airline had earlier said it could not pay salaries to employees as its bank accounts had been frozen.
Since November, the Service and Income Tax departments have frozen as many as 40 bank accounts of the airline for non-payment of these levies. While it owes Rs 76 crore to the Service Tax department, the airline has to pay nearly Rs 60 crore to the I-T department in TDS arrears