Employees’ strike drives buses off roads

DEHRADUN: Bus services were hit on several routes after over 4,000 members of the employee association of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) went on an indefinite strike from Thursday.
The Uttaranchal Roadways Karamchari Union has been demanding absorption of 2,900 outsourced employees, which includes bus drivers, conductors and workshop technicians, as contractual workers.
Thursday’s protest affected the movement of 1,400 buses of the UTC.According to the union members, 80% of the buses remained off the road on the day. The worst hit were the routes to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. The strike also affected buses plying on the inter-state routes, with routes in hilly districts badly hit.
“We had an agreement with the transport minister on October 16 that a proposal of our demand would be put forth in the next cabinet meeting. Two cabinet meetings have been convened since then but nothing has been done with regard to our demand,” said Ashok Chaudhary, general secretary of Uttaranchal Roadways Karamchari Union.
The outsourced employees are likely to get better salaries if they are brought under contract.