News Patiala, 4 August 2022
According to the decision taken by the Punjab government, the PRTC management is demanding the cancellation of the tender issued for adding 219 buses under the kilometer scheme in the PRTC. It was started by the ‘Punjab Roadways, Panbus and PRTC Contract Workers Union’ outside the PRTC headquarters here. This day and night sit-in continued for the second day today. During this day and night strike, one representative from all the nine depots of PRTC is also sitting on hunger strike.
Among the leaders on hunger strike is Harvinder Singh Pradhan Chandigarh, Beant Singh Patiala Dippu, Kulwinder Singh (Bathinda), Sukhvir Singh Kapurthala, Harjinder Singh Ludhiana, Surjit Singh Budhlada, Gurjit Singh Sangrur, Harpreet Singh Chandigarh, and Ankush Chandigarh.
In this regard, a permanent tent has been pitched at the gate of the office. The strike is being led by state senior vice president of the union Harkesh Vicky Khanal, state secretary Shamsher Singh Dhillon, state joint secretary Jagtar Singh, state vice president Gurpreet Singh Pannu and Chandigarh depot president Harvinder Singh and vice president Pavitar Singh.
Addressing the protest here, he said that the government had promised to end the privatization and contracting system. But the AAP government, which came to power after winning the votes, has also started following the lines of the governments of the traditional parties. They argued that the act of introducing buses with a kilometer scheme is tantamount to pushing the institution towards privatization. But the employees of the institution will not allow such plans of the government to succeed.
The speakers said that PRTC will not be able to become the owner of buses even after giving several lakhs of rupees to private firms under the kilometer scheme. If PRTC runs its own buses, the cost will still be the same as the kilometer scheme. This will also lead to ownership of buses.
Which will also earn the organization many years. Harkesh Vicky said that if the tenders issued for this scheme are not canceled, there will be an even fiercer struggle. State Joint Treasurer Ramandeep Singh and many others were also addressed.
PRTC Workers Action Committee Meeting
PRTC The meeting of the Workers Action Committee was held under the leadership of Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal. Baldev Raj, Bikramjit Sharma, Gurbaksha Ram, Tarsem Singh, and Mohammad Khalil were the prominent members of the Action Committee in the meeting.