This is important news for passengers traveling in government buses across Punjab. In fact, amid the delay in making contract employees permanent, the state’s transport system is once again on the verge of being shut down. PUNBUS/PRTC Contract Employees Union has warned the government that if their pending demands are not resolved by August 4, they will go on an indefinite strike and government buses will be blocked across Punjab.
An important meeting of the union was held in this regard in the office of the Transport Minister, in which the Secretary of the Transport Department, MD of PUNBUS and union representatives participated. However, the Transport Minister himself was not present in the meeting. Union leaders termed it as the insensitivity of the government. He said that the Punjab government owes Rs 1100 crore for free bus travel of women. State President Resham Singh Gill and General Secretary Shamsher Singh Dhillon said that earlier the union had announced a 3-day Chakka Jam, under which bus operations were stopped on July 9. After this, a meeting was scheduled with the Transport Minister and the Finance Minister, in which the government assured to resolve the demands of the union by July 16 and resolve all issues by July 28.
Due to this assurance, the union postponed the strike. But according to the union leaders, the scheduled meeting of July 16 did not take place and no concrete decision was taken in the meeting held on July 21. The anger among the union workers is increasing due to the policy of giving repeated assurances and postponing the time. He said that the government is moving towards privatization. There is a plan to open the tenders of private buses on August 4 under the kilometer scheme. If the tenders are opened, then the union will block all the government buses running on the road at the same time. Dhillon said that the cost per bus under this scheme is being estimated to be 32 to 35 lakh rupees, which will benefit private companies and cause damage to government property. The union alleges that this policy is being made to benefit corporate houses.
