Ludhiana: Bus services across Punjab could face disruption from Nov 16 as contractual employees of Punjab Roadways (PUNBUS) and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) have threatened a statewide strike if their long-pending demands are not addressed.Members of the Punjab Roadways PUNBUS, PRTC Contract Workers Union (25/11) staged a gate rally at the Ludhiana depot at ISBT, raising slogans against the state govt. The union also threatened to gherao the residences of the chief minister and transport minister if the demands remained unresolved.Addressing the protest, union vice-presidents Gurpreet Singh and Sukhwinder Singh Babbu claimed that around 65 to 70 meetings had been held with the AAP-led Punjab govt, but repeated discussions and assurances had failed to yield a concrete solution.They said PUNBUS employees working on contract for nearly 12 years were still awaiting regularisation. The process of bringing outsourced PUNBUS and PRTC workers under departmental contracts in accordance with Act No. 10, dated Aug 14, 2026, was also being delayed, they alleged.The union leaders questioned the status of offer letters recently distributed by chief minister Bhagwant Mann to PRTC employees in Patiala. They claimed that despite the exercise, not a single employee had formally been brought under contract and termed the offer letters “mere pieces of paper”.PRTC depot presidents Daljit Singh and Harsharan Singh said the transport minister and personnel department officials had recently assured the union that its demands would be resolved within two days, but the assurance had not translated into action.The union has sought direct departmental contracts for outsourced employees and regularisation of PUNBUS contractual workers who have been serving for over a decade. It has also demanded withdrawal of FIRs and police cases registered against employees during protests.The leaders further demanded that newly recruited employees and those currently outside the ambit of the 2026 Act be brought under its scope to ensure job security.Warning that workers would no longer accept repeated assurances, the union said it would launch a statewide strike from Nov 16 if the government failed to act. Protests outside the residences of the chief minister and transport minister would follow, it added.
