PRTC contractual employees’protest leaves passengers at Ludhiana bus stand in lurch

Bus services remained suspended at the Ludhiana bus stand for two hours on Saturday due to a blockade by the PRTC/Punbus contractual staffers, leading to chaos and confusion among hundreds of passengers who were forced to wait outside the terminal

Bus services remained suspended at the Ludhiana bus stand for two hours on Saturday due to a blockade by the PRTC/Punbus contractual staffers, leading to chaos and confusion among hundreds of passengers who were forced to wait outside the terminal.

Ludhiana bus stand was blocked from 10 am to 12 pm and hundreds of passengers were forced to wait outside the terminal. (Harvinder Singh/HT)

Due to an ongoing blockade at 18 Roadways depots by the union members, services of around 2,000 Punbus buses across the state also remained disrupted. The Ludhiana bus stand was blocked from 10 am to 12 pm.

“We are travelling to Amritsar for the weekend, but it has been over an hour since we are waiting for a bus, only a few government buses are running today, that too are loaded with passengers with free travel facilities,” Baljeet Singh, who is a resident of Chander Nagar, said.

He said that the routine strikes are causing harassment to passengers and burning a hole in the government’s pocket.

Supriya Sharma, a resident of Jagraon, said “the government buses to Jagraon have been cancelled and the private bus is supposed to arrive in 30 minutes. I will have to stand on the road and wait for the bus as buses are not entering the bus stand.”

The contractual employees of the government-run bus services are protesting against the suspension of a Punbus conductor in Batala and the transfer of 15 staffers from Ferozepur to Patti.

Shamsher Singh, general secretary of the union, said, “Punjab transport department has unreasonably transferred 15 contractual employees from Ferozepur to Patti and suspended a conductor in Batala citing frivolous charges.”

He said that service rules which apply to regular staffers should be applied to them and their jobs should be regularised.

He said that they have decided to block the depots until the suspended employee is reinstated and the process to transfer the employees is cancelled.