Bus services affected as Punbus, Roadways staff stage blockade

Passengers underwent a harrowing experience as members of the Punjab Roadways and Punbus Contract Workers’ Union applied brakes on nearly 180 buses of Amritsar-I and Amritsar-II depots on Wednesday.

The government was caught off-guard as it did not have any alternate arrangement in place to handle the situation. Punjab Roadways managed to ply only three buses as they have as many regular employees. These buses were insufficient to ferry the passengers who were waiting at the ISBT in large numbers.

Starting at 11 am, the union staged a four-hour-long blockade at the entry and exit gates of Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra Inter-State Bus Terminal here. Holding placards, they raised slogans against the government for not accepting their long-pending demand of regularising them.

Kewal Singh, president of the Amritsar chapter of the union, said they started the protest on the call of their own union. They also extended support to the strike call given by the trade unions.

“There are about 7,500 contractual workers in Punbus and PRTC across the state and after repeated assurances by the government, they have not been regularised. Of these, about 400 contractual workers are employed in the two depots of the city. I myself am working on contractual basis for the last 15 years,” he said.

“Nearly 1,600 contractual workers managed to clear the written examination in 2015 and were assured that they would be regularised after three years,” said Hira Singh, president of the union from Depot-I, adding that even after the passage of nearly six years, they were not regularised.

Those buses of Punbus which managed to pay off their loans have been merged in the Punjab Roadways, but the same rule is not applicable for the staff. Buses under the Punjab Roadways are driven by regular staff and there are no contractual workers under it.

The Transport Department did not have any alternate arrangement to ferry passengers, most of whom prefer to drive in buses offering free travel for women in state-run buses. The next two days are also likely to be a nightmare for passengers.

Amritsar