Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Transport Minister C P John on Monday said that currently the KSRTC was under a huge debt and therefore, a hike in pension of its retired staff has been "deferred for good times".

John told reporters that the financial situation of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was not good as it has borrowed around Rs 3,000 crore at 10.1 per cent interest.

Besides that, there are Rs 995 crore arrears to be paid to its employees and Rs 250 crore to contractors, he said.

"These huge liabilities being borne by the government are of not the past four to five months," he added.

In addition to these, the revenue of KSRTC has not increased as desired, he said.

"Once there is a proper increase in the revenue of KSRTC, we will do it (hike in pension). We will increase the DA and salaries also. We are not saying we will not. It has only been deferred to good times," the minister assured.

He was responding to queries regarding a recent government order which reportedly said that pensions of KSRTC retirees will not be increased currently.

In order to increase its revenue stream, KSRTC has taken up several measures, like entering the logistics field by using trucks, providing courier services, etc., he said.

Meanwhile, KSRTC pensioners claimed that during the assembly election campaign, UDF leaders had assured them that their pensions would be increased if the Congress-led front came to power in the state.