Former employees of SRTC stage protest, seek post-retirement benefits
Srinagar: Retired employees of the erstwhile State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) today once again hit roads in Srinagar to press for the release of their post-retirement arrears, which they claimed are pending with the corporation for the past 12 years.
The protesting retirees alleged that the administration, despite repeated assurances, has not released their pending arrears which include COLA, leave salary, DA and other arrears.
Chanting slogans and seeking LG’s intervention in getting them pending arrears, scores of retired SRTC employees assembled at the Press Enclave here and staged a protest to press for the release of their dues.
“We took voluntary retirement after the NC-Congress coalition government in the year 2009 introduced the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). We were assured at the time of superannuation that our pending dues will be cleared in a time-bound manner, but nothing of the sort happened thus far,” the aggrieved retirees told the media.
They said the government has not released Cost of Living Arrears (COLA) since 1999, with arrears of the 6th Pay Commission, Dearness Allowance (DA) and leave salary arrears too are pending for the past 12 years.
The protesters sought the intervention of LG and Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir to release their pending arrears, failing which, they warned that the protests will be intensified.
“Around 1742 retired employees of the erstwhile SRTC have been protesting over the years to press for the release of their pending arrears but the government seems to be least bothered to address our issues, which have taken a toll on us,” they added.
The former employees said that they met many higher-ups at the Civil Secretariat with regard to their issues and every time they were assured that their pending arrears will be released within the shortest possible time.
“We recently visited the Civil Secretariat and were assured that our pending arrears will be liquidated before Eid, but sorry to say, we were again disappointed,” they alleged.
