Roadways employees’ strike enters Day 2, passengers suffer

Passengers travelling in roadways buses faced difficulties again for the second day as the Punjab Roadways and PRTC Contractual Employees Union continued its strike on Saturday.

The employees alleged that the authorities were allegedly adopting a dictatorial approach but the struggle of employees would be continued till their demands were met by the government.

Shamsher Singh, one of the office-bearers of the union, said he was detained by the police on Friday and many others were also picked up from different locations.

He said the detained employees were released by the government but again late in the night, many were detained.

“We want tenders for the Km scheme to be cancelled, without any terms and conditions and the detained employees should be released,” he said.

The employees are demonstrating against the state government for floating tenders under the Kilometer Scheme.

Passengers across the state were left stranded for another day after contractual employees of the Punjab Roadways and the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) continued their strike on Saturday.

The union is protesting against the opening of tenders under the controversial Kilometre Scheme. The tenders were scheduled to be opened on Friday.

The scheme has faced criticism from transport employees, who feel that it encourages corruption by enabling private operators to run buses on government-notified routes. The union leaders called the policy a “backdoor attempt” to induct private buses and weaken the state-run transport system. Earlier, also the scheme has invited criticism by the employees.