3 days on, Punjab's contractual bus staff call off strike

The contractual staff of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), Punjab State Bus Stand Management Company Limited (PUNBUS) and Punjab Roadways on Sunday ended their three-day strike following a meeting with Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar.

The contractual unions agreed not to interfere with the Kilometre Scheme after the minister gave assurance to revoke the police cases and reinstate the terminated staff.

A senior official said the meeting ended on a positive note and bus operations would be back to normal from Monday onwards.

On Sunday, commuters continued to face the brunt of the strike as 30 per cent of the buses remained off the road.

According to information, Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) suffered a loss of Rs 2 crore in the past two days. In 2025, the loss touched Rs 11 crore as the union went on the strike for 14 times.

Yesterday, services of many protesting staffers were terminated while several were booked after they clashed with the police in Patiala and Sangrur. The strike not just caused losses to the state transport, but resulted in more revenue generation for private bus operators.

“Of 1,100 buses of the PRTC, 702 ferried passengers on Sunday. From Monday, all buses will ply on their respective routes,” said PRTC MD Bikramjit Singh Shergill.

The unions had launched the strike on Friday against the government’s move to add more buses under the Kilometre Scheme, which they claimed would “hit the state-run transport system on notified routes”. Punjab has around 2,350 buses and 1,500 employees are regular, while the rest are contractual.