No end to commuters’ inconvenience on Day 6

Tribune News Service
Panchkula, October 21

Though Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has decided to hold talks with the protesting Haryana Roadways employees, commuters continued to face harassment for the sixth day today. The employees have been protesting against hiring buses from private operators under the ‘kilometre scheme’.

However, there was some sigh of relief for management of the Haryana Roadways as offices and schools were closed today. About 19 buses of private schools in the district had been hired by the Roadways authorities to ferry passengers on local routes. Only skeletal services operated from Chandigarh as well as Panchkula bus terminals as only a few buses plied on long routes in the wee hours this morning. Meanwhile, protesting members of the Roadways union raised slogans against the department as well as the state government for not fulfilling their pending demands.

In view of the ongoing strike by the Roadways employees, taxi operators have also increased fare. They were demanding Rs 5,000 from Chandigarh to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Akshay Kumar, a resident of Mohali, who was to board a flight to Singapore, said he had to book an Innova taxi for Rs 5,500 against the normal rates of Rs 3,500.