Commuters harried over roadways staff on strike

About 3,500 buses, which include the luxury Volvo bus service, came to a halt at all bus stands in the state.

Chandigarh, April 11: Thousands of commuters were left stranded across Haryana on Tuesday as the state roadways employees continued their strike for the second day to protest issuance of permits to private operators.

The roadways employees under the banner of Haryana Roadways Employees Union HRWU staged demonstrations at various depots in the state.

Commuters faced a tough time after the state roadways buses did not ply on their regular routes.

The state roadways employees had also observed a strike in Jind district on Sunday to protest the state government's move to give permits to private operators to run buses on 273 routes, HRWU president Sarbat Singh Punia said.

"After this, the government on Monday invited us for talks with Additional Chief Secretary, Transport, S S Dhillon.

However, nothing came out of these talks as the government's stance on giving permits to private operators remained unchanged," Punia said.

Meanwhile, the government invited the striking employees for a fresh round of talks on Tuesday evening.

PTI