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Punjab bus strike: Roadways bus service collapsed badly due to the strike of employees in Punjab on Saturday. The passengers reaching the bus stand had to face a lot of problems.
Punjab bus strike: The roadways bus service in Punjab collapsed badly due to the strike of employees on Saturday. The passengers reaching the bus stand had to face a lot of problems. During this time, many employees who were protesting against opening of kilometer based tender were taken into custody by the police. Many contractual employees of government bus services have been detained in Punjab. The protesting employees in Ludhiana have condemned the police action. Sandeep Singh, senior vice president of Panbus Contract Workers Union in Hoshiarpur, alleged that four of their leaders, state committee member Kulwant Singh, district president Raminder Singh, secretary Narinder Singh and cashier Dharminder Singh are still in custody. He said that our strike will continue until they are released, the tenders of the kilometer scheme are not canceled and the contractual employees are not regularized. He claimed that in the last four years the government has not given even a single new bus to Punjab Roadways. More than 500 old buses have gone off the roads and those that are running are also facing major repair problems.
Employees clash with police
The senior vice president said that the department does not even have money for tires and necessary repairs. Employees of Punjab Roadways, Punjab State Bus Stand Management Company Limited (PUNBUS) and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) continued their protest for the second day on Saturday, affecting bus services in many parts of the state on Saturday. Bus employees had started the strike on Friday against the opening of tenders related to the kilometer-based bus scheme. They claimed that this was a backdoor attempt to introduce private buses and dismantle the state-run transport system, allowing private operators to run buses on government-notified routes. Many union leaders were taken into custody by the police during the protest. The protesting employees clashed with the police. The protest in Sangrur turned violent when some employees boarded buses and sprayed petrol on policemen who were trying to get them down. Dhuri police station in-charge got burnt due to fire in his uniform.
Said- Livelihood of thousands of people in danger
The protesters said that many of their leaders have been detained by the police. Union leaders in Ludhiana on Saturday strongly condemned the police action against the protesting employees. He demanded that the government accept our demand and release the detained employees. Union leaders and contractual employees allege that this policy has been brought to benefit private contractors. This policy will jeopardize the livelihood of thousands of people in the state transport sector. Sarwan Singh Pandher, leader of farmer organization Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti, came out in support of the contract employees and criticized the state government for this scheme. Meanwhile, passengers had to face a lot of trouble due to disruption in bus services due to the protests. Due to government buses being off the roads, passengers had to depend on private buses. A female passenger said that due to lack of government services, she was forced to buy tickets in private buses.
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