BRTS staff sans salary for over 4 months

Charanjit Singh Teja

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 23

The Metro bus staff has not been paid salaries since the lockdown was imposed. The buses are being run under the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). The company hired by the Punjab Bus Metro Society (PBMS) to operate the buses reportedly has not paid the salaries for the month of March, April and May and June.

The buses were not operational due to lockdown during these months. The staff of Metro bus led by BRTS Employees Welfare Association had suspended the operation for some days in July to protest the nonpayment of salaries.

The company did not pay the salaries for that period, when buses were off road. The BRTS Employees Welfare Association filed a case in the Labour Court and claimed their salaries for the period of lockdown. The next hearing for the case is on September 1.

Now, the company officials have been asking the staff to pay the salaries as per the decision of court. The government pays the company on the basis of per kilometer operation. The company officials said when buses were off road during lockdown, the government did not pay them so they were not liable to pay the staff for the period when buses were nonoperational.

Jageer Singh Sandhu, President, BRTS Employees Welfare Association, said, “We have struggled for long to get the salaries. The company had assured us to pay the salaries but failed to do so during the lockdown period. They only paid for some days of July, when service was operational.

The case is now sub-judice in the Labour Court. We are waiting for the court’s decision.”