Punjab Roadways, PRTC contract staff hold protest, want regular jobs

Tribune Reporters

Amritsar, January 22

On the call of a state-wide protest given by the Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC Contract Workers Union, members of the district union held a gate rally outside the Punjab Roadways workshop opposite Qila Gobindgarh here on Monday. They were demanding the regularisation of their jobs and slammed the Central Government’s ruling that public buses should not take more than 52 passengers. The Punjab Government should fulfil the demands of the contractual and outsourced employees immediately, they said.

Gathered outside the gates of the Amritsar-I and Amritsar-II depots, Baljit Singh and Jodh Singh, leaders of the union, in their addresses said the state government was not holding talks to regularise contractual employees. Instead of fulfilling their demands, the political leaders were telling lies.

After the elections, the AAP-led state government in the state was introducing anti-people policies. Similarly, the BJP government at the Centre passed strict laws against the drivers in the name of introducing new hit-and-run law. They said they were protesting against the law that has been amended to impose a penalty of 10 years and a fine of Rs 7 lakh on the drivers. That is why, drivers of all categories opposed the law and the amended act would not be allowed to be implemented at any cost, they said.

Jugraj Singh and Sukhdev Singh said successive governments had failed to fulfill the demands of the employees of the transport department.

Among other demands, they were seeking uniformity in the salaries of employees of PUNBUS and PRTC, implementation of the equal pay for equal work rule, re-employ those contractual employees who were expelled in the past, etc.

They said if the government did not pay heed to their demand, the union would hold a protest on January 26 against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Gate rallies also held in Tarn Taran

Tarn Taran: Contractual employees of the Punjab Roadways, Punbus, PRTC Contract Workers’ Union, Punjab, organised a gate rally in front of the workshop of the roadways depot here on Monday. They were demanding the fulfilment of the current demands of the contractual workers and others roadways employees. Satnam Singh Tur, leader of the depot unit of the union, was among others who addressed on the occasion.