As many as 10 unions of Haryana Roadways employees will go on strike for two days (Monday, Tuesday) on the call of national unions against privatisation policies. They are also demanding restoration of the Old Pension Scheme.
The unions have claimed that the employees and workers of other departments, including municipal bodies and electricity, will also participate in the nationwide strike.
A leader of Haryana Roadways employees, Dalbir Kirmara, said that the employees will go on strike from 4 am on Monday and they would be on strike till Tuesday late evening.
However, the authorities plan to keep the transport services running in the emerging circumstances. In a communication to all general managers, the Director (State Transport) has asked them to keep an eye on the routes and a decision may be taken to ply/stop the operation as per law-and-order contingencies. The general managers have also been asked “to ply/ stop the buses strictly as per the availability of the passengers and potential disturbances/strikeâ€.
The District Magistrate of Fatehabad has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC to maintain law and order in the district during the strike period under which a ban has been imposed on the gathering of five or more persons in 100-metre area of bus stand of Fatehabad and bus depots at Tohana and Ratia.
The government has been denying any plan to privatise the roadways. In the recently presented state budget, the state government had stated that it has a target to add 2,000 new buses in the roadways fleet in the financial year of 2022-23.
However, a leader of a joint front of 10 unions of roadways employees, Sarbat Singh Punia, alleged the government has been adopting such a policy which is leading to privatisation of the government PSUs. While giving an example of state roadways, Punia said: “In past seven years, the number of buses in the state roadways fleet has reduced from 4,250 to 2,600. By the end of this year, 900 more buses will be rendered useless. If the number of roadways fleet continues to be reduced at this pace, one day there will be no buses left under the public sector undertaking (PSU).†Punia said that keeping in view the requirements of the state, there is a need to add 10,000 buses in the roadways fleet.
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