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Ludhiana | PRTC contractual staff protest, seek regular jobs
The protest by PRTC staff in Ludhiana was a part of the state-level agitation against the state government for allegedly making fake promises in the past and delaying the process to regularise the contractual employees
Up in arms over the regularisation of contractual staff, PRTC contractual employees’ union organised a gate rally in protest against the state government at the bus stand here on Friday.
The protest was a part of the state-level agitation against the state government for allegedly making fake promises in the past and delaying the process to regularise the contractual employees.
The employees’ union had earlier announced a three-day strike from August 14, which was called off on its first day after a meeting of union leaders with chief minister Bhagwant Mann was scheduled for August 18. The union members claimed that the meeting with the state government remained futile. Further, they slammed the government for still working to outsource staff in the department.
District president of the union Satnam Singh and vice-president Gurpreet Braich said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had made tall claims of regularising the contractual staff before the assembly elections, but the government was now running away from its promises. Employees have been struggling with their demand for a long time, he said.
“ Rather than regularising the staff and working for the betterment of the department, the government is working to benefit the private player by hiring private buses under the kilometre scheme. We will be forced to raise the agitation to next level, if our demand is not fulfilled and the government will be responsible for public inconvenience,’ Satnam said.
Employees announce three-day strike from September 27
State general secretary of the union Shamsher Singh said protests would be staged outside the head offices of Punjab roadways and PRTC in the coming days and an agitation would be raised outside the residence of Transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on September 20. If the government still failed to fulfill the demands then they would observe three-day strike from September 27, he said.
