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| 51 not an auspicious number for JKTDC | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, December 16:
Be it in marriages or in case of birthdays, the number 51 is considered auspicious. On a good number of such occasions, it is a common practice to give money in denominations like 151, 251, 351, 551 and even 1051.
For the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC), however, the number 51 is a number to be dreaded. Why? The reason is not very difficult to find as the number of employees on deputation to JKTDC from the tourism department is 51.
These 51 employees doing duty away from their parent department are drawing salaries higher than the JKTDC staff. And some of them have a ``sarkari’’ (read lazy and devil may care) attitude. This has been creating heartburn in the tourism corporation ranks.
The corporation staff is driven by their seniors and always told to book profits so that their salaries are not jeopardised. They have been told clearly that booking losses can mean loss of jobs and definitely perks.
No such rules apply to the tourism department staff as they are on deputation to the JKTDC and their salaries are guaranteed. This virtually has created two sets of employees in the tourism corporation having different attitudes and approach to work.
In the recent past, the government decided to grant the benefit of 6th Pay Commission to the tourism corporation employees also just as it was given to other government staff. This has created a piquant situation for the corporation as the implementation of the commission’s award means an additional burden of Rs 6 crore per annum on the JKTDC coffers.
The salary of the 51 employees on deputation from the tourism department alone is close to Rs 1 crore per annum.
The sanctioned strength of the JKTDC staff is only 1,015 and against that over 1,100 staff members are drawing salaries from the corporation coffers. This has happened because there are a number of daily wagers, casual workers and contractual workers on the corporation payroll.
These staff members were added to the corporation payroll by politicians and bureaucrats over the last several years. Among the super-numerary staff are cooks, helpers etc who washed dishes at private residences but continued to draw salaries from the corporation.
At a very conservative estimate, the net worth of the JKTDC assets like tourism reception centres (TRCs), huts and buildings etc is over Rs 300 crore. Yet, gross mismanagement and a casual approach has created a situation whereby its profit last year was a itsy-bitsy Rs 46 lakh only.
At its annual general meeting (AGM) held some months ago, the government had taken a decision in principle to repatriate the tourism department employees. However, the decision has remained on paper and it does not appear that it is going to be implemented any time soon.
Unlike in government-owned department, the ethos at a corporation have to be governed by corporate philosophy. Even if no profits are booked, the least that is expected of a corporation is that it will at least break even and not go to the government with a begging bowl for meeting staff salaries and other expenses.
The JKTDC is likely to join the band of loss-making government-owned undertakings soon if correctives are not applied immediately. |
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