Protest turns into commuters’ nightmare

BATHINDA: Commuters had a harrowing time today due to the protest march by contractual thermal employees in the city. Initially they held a march and later staged a protest at Fire Brigade Chowk by blocking the Mall Road. Thereafter, they went back marching by blocking the road from where they passed.

Contractual employees of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, along with members of various organisations, during a protest march.

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 19

Commuters had a harrowing time today due to the protest march by contractual thermal employees in the city. Initially they held a march and later staged a protest at Fire Brigade Chowk by blocking the Mall Road.

Thereafter, they went back marching by blocking the road from where they passed.

The employees gathered under “Thermal Bachao, Rozgar Bachao”.

The protesters raised slogans against the state government. Co-ordination committee president Rajinder Singh said Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal first closed the thermal plant, thereby making contractual employees unemployed and now, he was holding sangat darshans in which he is making fake promises over giving employments.

The union leaders claimed that since January 1, they have been staging protests along with their family members outside the mini-secretariat, but the state government had failed to address their demands.

Committee members said the PSPCL management came to Bathinda and made a verbal agreement with them on January 27, but they have not returned till date. They claimed that they were forced to intensify their stir in the coming days.

Farmer union leaders Shingra Singh Mann and Surmukh Singh Sidhu said the main problem is the Electricity Act 2003.

They demanded that the Punjab Government should cancel the Act and resolve the contractual employees’ issue.

They assured to give their support to the ongoing protest. They claimed that if the issue was not resolved soon then they would intensify the stir.

Water Supply and Sanitation Contract Workers Union Sandeep Khan, TSU (Bhangal group) Rachpal Singh, farmer union leaders and others were present.