Pay stuck, Roadways contract staff shut Jalandhar bus stand in protest

Jalandhar, July 13

Members of the Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC Contract Workers’ Union, Punjab, closed the bus stand for two hours (from 10am to 12pm) today to mark their protest against the Transport Department and the Punjab Government for not releasing their salaries on time and delay in fulfilling their pending demands.

Balwinder Singh Hath, State Deputy Chairman of the union, said the AAP government made tall promises of providing better working conditions and among other facilities to the roadways workers before coming to power. “But after forming the government, they too have started ignoring the genuine demands of the workers,” he said, adding that given the condition, such a situation prevails that the roadways workers now have to stage protests even to get their salaries released.

He said the Transport Minister, Punjab, promised to hold a meeting with the contractual workers on June 7 to resolve the demands but no such meeting has been convened so far.

Chanan Singh and Ranjit Singh, general secretaries of the union, said every month, the employees have to either close the bus stand or go on strike only then their salaries would be released. “If our demands are not met at the earliest, the employees will hold a chakka-jam on July 19, and the state government will be responsible for the inconvenience that the public would have to go through,” they added.

They further alleged the AAP government too was following in the footsteps of previous governments and working on bringing such provisions that would directly benefit the corporate houses.