Year on, BRTS employees wait for resumption of Metro bus service

Charanjit Singh Teja

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 12

Around 1,500 BRTS employees were rendered jobless after the suspension of the Metro bus service last year. The employees of various firms, outsourced to operate Metro buses, staged a demonstration against the state government for not resuming the service at Novelty Chowk here on Monday.

BRTS Employees’ Ekta Union president Sarbajit Singh said, “Around 1,500 employees lost their jobs after the suspension of the service. On the one hand, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is spending huge funds on advertisements to propagate that the government has provided jobs to thousands of people, but the fact is that we have lost our jobs under the current dispensation.

The buses are gathering dust at the BRTS bus terminal at the Vallah-Verka bypass and employees have been running from pillar to post for the resumption of the service for the last one year. The CM should visit our houses and see the predicament of the poor BRTS workers, who have been deprived of salaries for the last one year.”

Another BRTS worker said all women employees were from needy families and earning their bread and butter from this job. Now they are facing hard times due to the apathetic attitude of the government. The employees had submitted a memorandum to MC Commissioner Harpreet Singh to resume the service on Friday.

It is worth mentioning here that four separate companies had outsourced around 1,500 employees for driving, mechanical jobs, security, tickets, technical support and call centres. The buses have been off the road since July 2023 as the firm, which outsourced the drivers and mechanical workers for the project, had left the contract midway. The state government and the local administration have failed to resume it and no efforts are being made by the authorities in this regard. Now, the contract of other firms also ended.

The BRTS was the only public transport service in the city which was economical, comfortable and safe for passengers and over 37,000 commuters used to travel in BRTS buses every day. Started at a cost of ~550 cr, the bus service has been ignored by the state government after the end of the SAD-BJP regime. A large number of students of various educational institutions used to travel on buses daily. With the suspension of the BRTS service, the travel cost of students and passengers has gone up four times.