Punjab: Nearly 3,000 public buses off the roads due to workers’ strike

Punjab: Around 7,500 contract employees of Punjab Roadways, Punbus and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) on Monday began a three-day strike at 27 bus depots across the state. Around 3,000 buses remained off-road due to the strike, causing inconvenience to passengers, including a large number of devotees who had thronged major gurdwaras across the state to offer prayers on the birth anniversary of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. Many contract employees said they did not want to inconvenience the public but were left with no option as the government refused to give them increased wages and did not regularise their services.

Punjab Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar held a meeting with the employees last week but the issues could not be resolved. The protesters said drivers were being paid between Rs 13,000 and Rs 18,000 depending on their joining, while conductors get a salary of Rs 12,000 per month. A union leader in Bathinda said that they have been holding frequent meetings with the government on this issue for the past one year, but the government has deferred the issue every time. In Sangrur, PRTC contract workers staged a sit-in protest at the main bus stand of the town. Though private bus operators and regular PRTC employees operated buses, a large number of buses remained off the roads.