Passengers across Haryana suffer as roadways staff on strike

Chandigarh, Sep 7: Large number of passengers across Haryana faced inconvenience as the state roadways employees went on an indefinite strike against the government's move to grant route permits to private bus operators, even as authorities were holding talks with Union leaders to end the deadlock.

The Haryana Roadways employees yesterday gave a call for indefinite "chakka jaam' (shut down) after which buses went off road, leaving thousands of commuters stranded across the state.

The buses did not operate from depots in Chandigarh, Kaithal, Hisar, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Sirsa, Rewari, Gurgaon and other places.

At several depots, the employees sat on dharna and raised slogans against the state government for its move to grant permits to private operators for 3,510 routes.

"When people are happy with the state transport buses, why is the government adamant on giving route permits to private operators across the state. Besides our main demand, we have other issues including the government not filling up several vacancies," Haryana Roadways Workers Union (HRWU) President Sarbat Singh Punia said.

Principal Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner (Transport) R R Jowel said state Transport Minister and other government officials, including him, were holding talks with the roadways employee union leaders in Karnal today to end the deadlock.

PTI