Amritsar ISBT blocked for 4 hrs, commuters at receiving end

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 3

Members of the Theka Mulazam Sangharsh Morcha staged a blockade for four hours at the Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) putting commuters to a lot inconvenience on a hot and humid Tuesday.

The four-hour blockade at the ISBT will also be held on Wednesday.

Raising slogans against the Capt Amarinder Singh government, they flayed it for not honouring its promise of regularising jobs of part-time and contractual employees.

Those commuters who came from far-flung areas of the district to catch a bus to reach their destinations were extremely disappointed. One such victim was Sharanpreet Kaur who along with her two minor kids came to board a bus for Tanda to meet her relatives there. “After a cardiac arrest, my uncle was hospitalised last night, so I came to board a bus to meet him. As my husband was not getting leave from work, I was compelled to travel alone with small kids. I cannot afford expensive travel by a taxi,” she said.

Suba Singh, vice-president of the Punbus Contractual Workers’ Union, said he along with the members of his union came here on the call of strike given by the Theka Mulazam Sangharsh Morcha. Expressing his apprehension, he said the sub-committee of the Cabinet, formed to discuss their demands, was scheduled to meet on Wednesday. He threatened that they would not accept anything less than regularisation of jobs. He said any move to create division like regularisation of those staff members who completed 10 years’ tenure would not be accepted.

He said there were nearly 7,500 contractual workers in Punbus and PRTC across the state. Though the government completed four-and-a-half years of its tenure, it did not deliver on its promise of regularisation of contractual staff.

Kuljit Singh, president, Punbus Contractual Workers’ Union, said the four-hour strike was imposed between 10 am and 2 pm. He said a three-day strike would commence from August 9. He said the government did not make any alternate arrangement of buses and private transporters had pressed in services outside the ISBT.

Meanwhile, the government was caught off-guard as they did not have any alternate arrangement in place to handle the situation.

Earlier, a three-day strike by the Punbus Contractual Workers’ Union for the same demand had concluded on June 30.

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