Contractual employees of the Punjab Roadways and Punbus staged a protest at the Jalandhar bus depot on Friday as part of a statewide agitation against the implementation of the special cadre policy and other pending demands.
Under the banner of the Punjab Roadways Punbus, PRTC Contract Workers Union, protesting employees alleged that the government was attempting to forcibly implement the Special Cadre Policy 2023 instead of addressing the long-pending demands of job regularisation.
During the protest, workers also burnt copies of a departmental letter related to the policy. Addressing a gathering, union leaders Balwinder Singh Rath and Harjinder Singh asserted that contractual employees had been facing continuous neglect despite repeated protests and meetings.
They further alleged that some workers were recently booked under serious charges and sent to jail during earlier protests against the kilometre scheme in November, which they termed an attempt to suppress the employees’ movement.
The union reiterated its demands, including the release of jailed workers, regularisation of contractual employees, salary parity, strengthening of the government bus fleet, availability of spare parts for buses and opposition to the kilometre scheme.
Union general secretary Ranjit Chanan Singh said a meeting between union representatives and the Transport Minister, which was earlier scheduled for May 15, had now been rescheduled for May 18 after the government sought more time to discuss the issues.
He said the union hoped for a concrete outcome from the meeting but warned that employees would intensify their agitation and could launch a strike if no resolution was reached.
