Bus services disrupted across Punjab as PRTC, Punbus employees go on three-day strike

PTC News Desk: Bus passengers across Punjab are expected to face major travel disruptions on Monday as contractual employees of Punjab Roadways and the Punjab Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) began a statewide strike, affecting services at several bus depots.

The strike has been called by the Punjab Roadways, Punbus and PRTC Contract Workers Union over long-pending demands. These include making contractual employees permanent, ending the outsourcing system, and withdrawing police cases filed against union members during last year's protests.

“We have been assured several times that our demands would be addressed. Even during a meeting with the transport management on Thursday, we were given assurances but no notification was issued. As a result, all contractual workers of Punjab Roadways and PRTC joined the strike from Sunday midnight,” Gill said.

Union state president Resham Singh Gill said the employees had given the government advance notice of the strike, but no action was taken despite several rounds of talks.

The union is demanding that employees who have worked on contract for the past 12 years be regularised. It also wants outsourced workers, many of whom have been working for 16 years, to be brought under the department's direct contractual system.

Another major demand is the withdrawal of police cases filed against union members after the November protests against the kilometre scheme turned violent.

The strike has disrupted bus services at several depots, leaving many passengers, especially students, office workers and women, searching for other ways to travel. The full impact of the strike is expected to become clearer as the day progresses.