30 pc salary hike for trainees of transport corporations

Ahead of the festival season, four State Transport Corporations - BMTC, KSRTC, NEKRTC and NWKRTC, have announced bonanza in the form of 30 per cent salary hike for over 17,000 trainee employees.

Consequently, the trainee bus drivers and conductors employed with all the four State-run Transport bodies, who were getting Rs 6,000-7,000, will now be getting close to Rs 10,000 every month.

The decision is expected to cost KSRTC close to Rs 60 crore.

KSRTC Managing Director Rajender Kumar Kataria said, “I have visited several depots under different divisions and saw that the trainees are grossly underpaid. They were getting as low as Rs 6,000 for their training period of two years and in many cases, the training period gets extended six to seven years, as well. I discussed the low wages with the other three managing directors and decided that we should hike their salaries. Now, spanning various categories, the hike in salary is anything between 30-38 per cent.”

In comparison, regular drivers with the KSRTC get a salary of Rs 17,844 while conductors are paid Rs 16,765. For drivers with 10 years’ experience, the salary goes up to Rs 21,781 and is Rs 21,178 for conductors with same experience.

The increase in stipend has been a long-felt need for trainees who had been seeking higher wages for several years as the amount paid was insufficient for them to make a living in the City, and also below the minimum wages fixed by the government.