In a significant development, Punjab will experience a complete shutdown of bus service for three consecutive days, starting from today, Monday, January 6, 2025, to Wednesday, January 8, 2025. This announcement has been made following the contractual employees of Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transportation Corporation beginning a three-day strike to push their demands, including the regularization of their jobs to the state government.
On January 7 and 8, these union members will stage a protest outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Chandigarh. They have expressed their concerns from the state, stating that their concerns weren’t addressed during the earlier conversations.
As a result of this strike, commuters relying on government buses for travel on January 6, 7, and 8 may face significant inconvenience. Today, despite being a public holiday on account of Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, a rush of commuters was witnessed at the bus stands across the region. Many of them were seen hiring private taxis or heading for railway stations to reach their destinations.
State Government’s Action Against the Strike
However, to minimize the strike’s impact on the local commuters, the state transport department has also directed the managements to deploy their staff, including those with desk jobs, to do the field duties.
What PRTC Union President Said?
According to the reports, around 2,800 buses of Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transportation Corporation stayed off the roads. The Punjab Roadways, PRTC Contract Workers Union President, Resham Singh Gill, has said that around 8000 contractual employees are participating in this strike.
The demonstrations of the strike will be at 27 bus depots across the state. The contractual employees have been demanding the regularization of their jobs and salary hikes, among other things.
The PRTS and PNBS contract workers have been campaigning for the service regularization of temporary workers.
What PRTC Vice President Said?
Harkesh Singh Vicky, the vice president of the Punjab Roadways/PRTC Contractual Employees Union, said that a few days ago, the union held a meeting with the Punjab transport minister, Laljit Singh Bullar, regarding their demands, but no resolution was made.
“Other demands of the employees include a 5% annual salary increase, reinstatement of suspended workers, an end to outsourcing recruitment, action against the ‘private transport mafia’ operating near bus stands, cessation of employee blacklisting, and halting the hiring of private buses under the kilometer scheme,” he added.
Additionally, last month, the union also submitted a memorandum to Punjab’s ministers, pressing the government for permanent employment of the contractual staff.
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