KSEB seeks support of employees to turn around sick state PSU

Loss making public utility service, the Kerala state Electricity Board, has expressed concern over its financial crisis and sought workers co-operation to overcome it.
In a letter to representatives of workers Unions, Board Chairman and Managing Director N S Pillai said the Board was facing a financial crisis and its accumulated losses as per the statutory audit of 2016-17 stood at Rs 1,877 crore.
He said KSEB was finding it difficult to deposit its share into the Employees Master Pension and Gratuity Trust.
Seeking their co-operation to turn around KSEB, Pillai in his recent letter, said all incomplete power projects should be completed on time bound basis and maximum potential of non-conventional energy sources have to be used. Efforts should be made to collect debts due to the board, he said.

KSEB's financial crunch comes at a time when the CPI(M) led LDF government is working out a package to bail out the ailing Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).
The financial situation of KSRTC has resulted in non-payment of pension to about 40,000 former employees.

Yesterday, pensioners of loss making Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) called off their protest over hold up in the payments after the state government assured them that all arrears would be cleared at the earliest.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave the assurance during a meeting with representatives of striking workers, following which they called off their agitation.

The development yesterday came even as two former KSRTC employees committed suicide allegedly due problems faced by them following non-payment of pension.