NEW DELHI: Cash-strapped Air India and Kingfisher are fast becoming flashpoints with unpaid employees and vendors. Last week, a Rs 15-crore cheque issued by Kingfisher to Airports Authority of India (AAI) bounced following which the state-run airport operator put the airline back on daily cash-and-carry.
Since this move threatened to completely disrupt Kingfisher's schedule that is already feeling the heat with pilots quitting, AAI started accepting some part payment but has called airline top brass to make its stand clear on the over Rs 200 crore dues now. The airline did not offer comment on this issue.
AAI's dues from AI, on the other hand, are now inching to the Rs 1,000-crore mark with the figure climbing to Rs 950 crore, said a senior official. While being a sister public sector unit run by the same parent aviation ministry, AAI can do nothing about AI.
The Maharaja's long unpaid employees, however, are now seething with anger and the airline may well be headed for a serious round of industrial action due to the government's complete failure in undoing the damage its controversial decisions caused to AI-IA combine earlier.
"For five months we have not been paid our allowances that account for 80-85% of the total salary. For instance, a commander in erstwhile Indian Airlines has a monthly package of Rs 3.5 lakh - Rs 30,000 in basic and HRA and the rest allowances. Frustrated employees could soon resort to mass sick leave or some other action. Unpaid employees are bearing the brunt of wrong decisions taken by UPA-1," said a long time employee.
A top airline official said employees would be paid one month's salary and allowance by this weekend. "We have to pay Rs 209 crore to oil companies by 4 pm on Tuesday. After that we have about Rs 200 crore that would be paid as one month's salary and allowance by this Friday or Saturday," said the official.
Going unpaid on Diwali too hasn't gone down well with employees and the unrest is fast assuming alarming proportion over the growing uncertainty on salary payment. The government's 'balm' to AI employees of removing an unpopular chairman and MD did for work for some time but now the staffers are up in arms over going unpaid for so long.
"The government should now tell us if it can run the airline. Else it must give us clearance to leave," said a senior pilot.
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