Punbus contractual workers go on indefinite strike, buses off road

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 6

Contractual and outsourced workers under the banner of the Punbus and PRTC Theka Mulazim Union on Monday announced their indefinite ‘chakka jam’ protest. Both the Punbus and PRTC buses remained off the roads throughout the day. The union members said the buses were not allowed to move since morning. Some of the buses were parked inside the depots since midnight. Consequently, bus passengers had to suffer a lot of inconvenience.

Passengers, including women, who were stranded on highways and roads had to go on foot to reach their destination The bus stand also remained closed for passengers. However, private buses operated from outside the bus stand.

Neither any passenger nor any bus was allowed to move inside the bus stand. The strike was held in protest against non-fulfilment of the demands of the workers.

Vikramjit Singh, a contractual worker, who is working in roadways depot-1 said, “It has been many months since we started our protest, demanding a regularisation policy of the Transport Department, but to no avail. “Most of the drivers, contractors and other staff working in the field include contractual workers, yet they are not paid decent salaries. Hence we won’t lift our strike unless our demands are met,” added Vikramjit.

Chairman Jasbir Singh of the district union, further stated, neither any passenger nor any bus was allowed to move inside the bus stand. The strike was observed against the non-fulfilment of the demands of the workers.

Women, who enjoy free travel facility frequently on roadways buses, had to either take private buses or returned disappointed to their houses. Gurjit Kaur, a resident of Basti Bawa Khel, said she kept waiting for a bus to Mohali for two hours, but could not get any. She preferred to return to her house as private buses were fully occupied.

Similarly, stranded passengers complained of overcharging by private buses. Passengers who were stranded near Rama Mandi, said they paid extra to private buses in the absence of roadways or PRTC buses.

Some passengers, unaware of the strike, kept on waiting for buses at the PAP bus stand. The protesters said they had been seeking the regularisation of jobs for the past several years, but to no avail. They would gherao the farmhouse of the CM on Wednesday to pressurise the government to fulfil their demands otherwise they would continue their protest.

The demands of the workers include immediate regularisation of the workers in their respective departments, fleet of at least 10,000 buses considering free travel facility for women and the population of the state, implementation of the Supreme Court’s equal pay for equal work, repeal the condition of the report and reinstate the employees.

Gurjot Singh, a driver, said, as per the law, a contractual worker would have to be made permanent within 240 days of his job. However, their services have not been regularised even after so many years of service. We have been working on meagre salaries, but the government was not taking any action in our favour.

There are nearly 250 roadways and PRTC buses in the district, which are affected due to the strike.

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