Tamil Nadu transport employees will receive a Deepavali bonus under a government announcement that also covers workers in cooperative societies and sugar mills, with the state transport department set to spend Rs 167.12 crore for 1,06,001 employees.
The bonus amount has been credited to the employees’ accounts, according to an official press release cited by Deccan Chronicle. The announcement comes as Tamil Nadu’s state transport department operates 21,333 buses on 10,172 routes every day, serving 2.18 crore people.
The government said 72 per cent of the passengers using the state transport network avail the free travel benefit. The announcement did not specify different bonus percentages for transport employees in the supplied release, but confirmed the total allocation and the number of workers covered.
The transport department’s figures place the bonus decision within the operating framework of one of the state’s largest public-facing services. The daily bus network connects 10,172 routes and serves passengers across Tamil Nadu, while the government’s free travel benefit accounts for a majority of reported users.
Employees of cooperative societies will receive a bonus of 20 per cent if they work in profit-making societies and 10 per cent if they work in other cooperative societies covered by the Bonus Act, the release said. Non-profit cooperative societies outside the Act will provide an ex-gratia payment of Rs 3,000, while employees of primary cooperative societies will receive Rs 2,400.
A total of 44,570 cooperative society employees will benefit from that exercise, which will cost the government Rs 49.69 crore. The payments are being made in recognition of the work and service of cooperative society employees, according to the official release.
The state’s cooperative and public sector sugar mills will also provide payments to their workers. The 16 cooperative mills and two public sector mills have adopted different combinations of bonus and ex-gratia payments. Subramania Siva and Kallakurichi II sugar mills will pay an 8.33 per cent bonus and 11.67 per cent ex-gratia, while the other 14 cooperative mills and two public sector mills will pay an 8.33 per cent bonus and 1.67 per cent ex-gratia.
The sugar mill payments will cover 5,190 workers and involve an allocation of Rs 351.40 lakh. Separately, the cooperative department has procured firecrackers worth Rs 16 crore for sale at subsidised rates to the public, the government said.
The announcement therefore combines employee payments with a subsidised festive retail initiative. The official release did not provide further details on the distribution locations or the sale schedule for the firecrackers. The transport department’s Rs 167.12-crore allocation remains the largest of the three employee-related allocations detailed in the announcement.
