Continuing its protest against the State Government’s decision to allow private buses to ply within and from the state, Haryana Roadways employees’ unions have called for a two-day strike on October 16 and 17.
Despite the imposition of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in the state, the roadways unions have announced to go ahead with their strike, which is likely to cause inconvenience to lakhs of commuters.
Haryana Roadways Workers Union president Virender Singh said that the State Government's decision to hire 720 buses is against the interest of the employees as well as the public. We have received support of all the employees unions for our two days strike starting on October 16,
We will not allow the government to hire private buses, he added.
Notably, Haryana Government had on August 30 imposed ESMA to prevent the one-day strike of roadways unions from taking place on September 5. Following ESMA enforcement, the strike call given by roadways unions had fizzled out. Earlier on August 7, commuters were inconvenienced when roadways’ employees had taken part in a nationwide strike for the amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act. Around 4000 buses of Haryana roadways had remained off the roads on that day.
As per the Transport Department, Haryana roadways have been able to cater to only 12.5 lakh of the about 33 lakh daily commuters.