The Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced Diwali bonus and ex-gratia to the 1,44,045 employees of State transport corporations.
The employees will get 8.33 per cent bonus and 11.67 per cent ex-gratia. This will cost the exchequer a total of ₹216 crore, according to an official statement.
₹199-cr subsidy
The State government said it had paid about ₹199 crore as subsidy to offset the additional expenditure incurred by the transport corporations on account of increase in diesel prices during the January-September period.
The transport corporations were estimated to incur a loss of ₹4 crore daily, the government had said while partially rolling back its bus fare hike in January. Before the January price revision, they were making losses of ₹9 crore daily.
Acccording to a recent government document, staff salary accounts for 52 per cent of the transport corporations’ operational cost, followed by diesel at 28 per cent. After salary hikes, the average monthly salary of a worker shot up to ₹44,000 from ₹21,000 in 2011, it said.
Over the past seven years (2011-2018), the State government has sanctioned about ₹13,000 crore towards share capital assistance, loans, etc..