2-hour bus strike hassles passengers

The two-hour strike and closure of the city bus stand by the Punjab Roadways/Punbus/PRTC Contractual Workers' Union led to harassment to commuters on Thursday.

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Members of the union did not allow any bus to enter or exit from the bus stand. Passengers kept on waiting for a bus but had to eventually walk down a few hundred metres outside the bus stand to catch a private bus. Private operators had a field day as passengers, who otherwise prefer a government-operated bus, were completely dependent on them.

Bhupinder Singh, general secretary of the union, said, "We know that the public is getting harassed. But we too have issues. Our families too are dependent on our jobs for a stable earning. We have been working on a contractual basis since 2007. The government has been assuring us that it was making a policy to regularise us but has never disclosed what is being done about us. Our demands are being made to linger on by all governments. AAP, which too gave us an assurance, has been sitting on our demand for the past three years".

Union leaders said 27 roadways depots across the state had been shut down for two hours. "The government is not paying any attention to our demand. So, we are going ahead with a three-day strike from April 7 to 9. Other than our demand for regularisation, we are also asking the government to add in a fleet of 10,000 more buses to cover all routes and do away with the kilometre scheme as it is completely non-viable", added Bhupinder Singh.

As the members of the union raised slogans against the government outside the bus stand, the commuters had to walk down some distance with their luggage to catch a private bus. All women passengers, who avail free travel in government buses, had to pay for the bus fare today. Parvinder Kaur, who had come from Ludhiana to meet some relatives, said, "I had been dropped near bus stand. I was completely clueless of the strike. I have undergone knee surgery recently. It was not easy for me to carry my bags and walk down to catch a bus".