Jammu, Dec 3 (IANS): The J&K government on Tuesday approved 20 per cent DA for the employees of J&K State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) employees effective from August 1, 2024.

Officials said that Satish Sharma, Transport Minister today approved the DA hike. The JKSRTC is a body corporate.

The board of directors of the corporation had approved the DA hike in favour of its employees on August 16, 2024.

JKSRTC came into being soon after Independence in 1947. The trucks and buses owned by operators like N.D. Radhakrishnan, allied Chirag Din & Sons and Nanda Bus Service got held up on the other side of the border leading to transport services and movement of essential commodities collapsing abruptly as the private transporters were reluctant to come forward for transportation of food grains and shifting of refugees.

In order to defuse the crisis, the government established Government Transport Undertaking (GTU) on January 5, 1948, with a fleet of 50 trucks which were purchased from M/S General Motor Corporation Bombay.

With the growing demand for intervention of the government in passenger transport, a new fleet of buses was introduced into the existing fleet of Government Transport Undertaking (GTU).

GTU was subsequently converted into a Corporation (under section 3) of the Road Transport Corporation Act -1950 on September 1, 1976.

Thus, the JKSRTC (a successor to the erstwhile Government Transport Undertaking) came into existence which was done to make the fleet profit-oriented and reduce the burden on the exchequer.

The Corporation owns a fleet of more than 1,000 buses, including AC sleeper, semi-sleeper, and ordinary buses.

JKSRTC also operates a large number of mini-buses to facilitate travellers in the remote mountainous areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

JKSRTC buses run on all major routes in several states, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Delhi.

Some of the important routes serviced by JKSRTC include Srinagar, Jammu, Katra, Leh, Kargil, and Udhampur, among others.