Services thrown out of gear as contractual bus employees protest for job regularisation

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 27

Government bus services remained disrupted on Thursday due to a protest by the contractual bus employees, causing inconvenience for passengers. The strike was later postponed by the protesters and bus services resumed after holding a meeting with the higher officials of the Transport Department.

Union leader lists key demands

Satnam Singh, the president of the local unit of Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC Contract Workers’ Union, said: “We have been demanding the regularisation of around 6,800 contractual employees across the state. We have also requested the immediate implementation of a 5 per cent salary hike as per rules and job security for contractual employees and the reinstatement of those who have been terminated.”

Members of Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC Contract Workers’ Union went on a strike in the morning to demand job regularisation, salary increases and resolution of other issues. They also staged a protest outside the PRTC depot in Ludhiana.

A union member said approximately 90 per cent of government buses did not operate during the strike. As a result, a large number of commuters had to resort to private buses. Many women passengers could be seen waiting at the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Interstate Bus Terminal for the resumption of government buses on different routes. They were unaware of the strike by employees.

Jaswinder Kaur, a passenger, said she had to travel from the Ludhiana bus stand to Barnala with her granddaughter but no government buses were available. “We have Aadhaar cards and government bus service has been declared to be free for women. We have been waiting for a government bus to Barnala for the past few hours. As there is no bus due to the strike, we will now travel in a private bus. Had we known about the strike, we would have avoided travelling today,” she said.

Satnam Singh, the president of the local unit of Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC Contract Workers’ Union, said: “We were forced to go on a strike today as the government has not addressed our repeated demands so far. We have been demanding the regularisation of around 6,800 contractual employees across the state. We have also requested the immediate implementation of a 5 per cent salary hike as per rules. We also want job security for contractual employees and the reinstatement of those who have been terminated.”

Satnam added: “During the strike, around 90 per cent of the government buses did not operate from the city bus stand. However, after 3.30 pm, our union decided to postpone the strike as some of our demands were accepted by the higher authorities during a meeting. A decision regarding the regularisation of our jobs will be made later by the government.”

Union members said if their demands are not met by July 10, they would go on strike once again and the government and management officials concerned would be responsible for the same.

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