Roadways staff strike enters Day 3, commuters harried

Tribune News Service
Panchkula, October 18

Commuters in the region are a harried lot as the Haryana Roadways employees continued their strike for the third day against hiring buses from private operators under the ‘kilometre scheme’ here on Thursday.

Only skeletal services operated from Chandigarh and Panchkula bus terminals, as 20 per cent of the total buses left for long-routes this morning. Protesting members of the roadways union raised slogans against the department as well as the state government for not fulfilling their long-pending demands. 

The most affected were the office-goers and students as auto-rickshaws charged high rates from those travelling from Zirakpur and Chandigarh from Panchkula.

Meanwhile, hundreds of members of five other unions — Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, Akhil Bhartiya Janwadi Mahila Samiti, Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha, Retired Karamchari Sangh and HSVP workers — joined the protestors. 

Addressing the protestors, Vijender Singh, Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh president, said even though the roadways employees strike had entered the third day, there was no response from the government. He said the state government had hired 720 private buses to ignore its own employees and this would not be tolerated at any cost.

He said the state government had forced the roadways employees to go on a strike and the employees did not want to harass the public. He said instead meeting the protestors, the state government was trying to crush the strike by booking employees under the ESMA. He said now the clerical and other staffs of the roadways department had also joined the strike.