Roadways employees hold protest at bus stand, seek rollback of km scheme

The Punjab Roadways employees remained on strike on Friday, not plying buses from the Jalandhar bus stand in protest over the government’s proposal to introduce kilometre (km) scheme. The strike began early morning, with employees gathering at the bus stand and refusing to work.

The employees’ chairman, Diljit, stated that the police arrived to detain him while he was heading to gurdwara this morning. The employees claimed that several union leaders had been detained by the police since 4 am today morning. The leaders were released in the evening.

The leaders were detained to prevent any roadblocks. The protest was timed by unions with the scheduled opening of tender for the kilometre bus scheme today. The employees demanded cancellation of the tender. The police appealed to employees to protest within the depot premises. ADCP City-2 Harinder Singh Gill tried to pacify the protesting employees. The employees said the next course of action would be decided after a meeting with the administration officials.

Protest in Hoshiarpur

Punjab Roadways/PUNBUS and PRTC contract employees protested in front of the local workshop against detention of their union leaders and opening of tenders for the kilometre scheme of buses by the Punjab Government by stopping their work.

On the occasion, the protesters said last night, the Punjab Police took their union leaders into custody at the behest of the government. They said the ruling dispensation was following policies of other state governments. They said the AAP government was bringing the kilometre scheme, which would prove fatal for the people of Punjab. They said the scheme would cause harm to the people, especially roadways employees. They said if their leaders were not released soon, this dharna would be extended indefinitely.