To commemorate the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, contractual workers of the Punjab Roadways, Punbus and PRTC staged a protest at Jalandhar depot on Monday, accusing the government of suppressing the union’s voice, pushing privatisation and failing to release salaries of PRTC employees for the past two months.
The protest was organised under the banner of the Punjab Roadways, Punbus and PRTC Contract Workers Union as part of the statewide stir in response to the growing resentment among workers over the non-payment of wages for January and February.
Balwinder Singh Rath, chairman of the union leaders, said, “The employees, who had opposed the kilometre bus scheme in recent months, were falsely implicated in cases and sent to jail in a bid to crush dissent. We had repeatedly demonstrated in official meetings that the scheme, which allowed private operators to ply their buses on government routes in exchange of fixed charges per kilometre, was incurring loss for the department. “Despite this, tenders are being pushed through to favour select private players, leading to losses worth crores,” he added.
The union also accused the government of going back on its promise to end the contractual system. The union leaders said not a single employee had been regularised so far, while exploitation under contractors continued unchecked. They alleged that the contractors were failing to deposit the EPF and ESI contributions on time and were making arbitrary deductions from workers’ salaries. “Crores of rupees belonging to employees have been siphoned off, but no action has been taken,” they said.
Additionally, the issue of unpaid salaries has emerged as the immediate flashpoint. The workers said they were struggling to meet basic household expenses due to delayed wages, accusing the government and management of apathy.
Warning of intensifying the agitation, the union announced a protest outside the PRTC head office on March 25 if their salaries are not released immediately. A statewide meeting on March 30 is also planned to decide the next course of action, they said.
In Fazilka also, activists of the Punjab Roadways, Punbus and PRTC Contractor Workers’ Union staged a protest at the main gate of the local bus stand, demanding the immediate release of their pending salaries. Union leaders Manpreet Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Surinder Singh said the workers have not received their salaries for the last month so far.
They alleged that the government had replaced four contractors, but they failed to deposit employees’ EPF and ESI contributions. Despite that, no action had been taken against them, they claimed. They also rued that the government had not fulfilled its promise to regularise their services