Haryana came to a standstill on Wednesday, with its offices emanating an eerie silence, as three lakhs Government employees went on strike to press for their demands, affecting almost all essential services in the State.
Adding to the inconvenience of the general public almost all offices, including all the medical facilities were shut down following the one day strike on November 13, called under the banner of Haryana Sarv Karamchari Sangh. The employees’ unions have put up their respective demands, including wages on central government scale, regularization of services of part-time and adhoc-staff and policy for recruitment of staff.
lakhs of passengers remained stranded across Haryana on Wednesday due to the strike by Haryana Roadways employees. People had to opt for private taxis, which made a killing by charging exorbitantly. Around 12 lakh passengers travel by Haryana Roadways buses daily.Rohtash Singh, general manager of Chandigarh Depot of Haryana Roadways said that it was the first time in the history of Haryana when all the employees unions collectively went on strike, fighting on a single platform for their demands, as they were left with no other alternative.
However, the state government had no other arrangement for public transportation in the state, even when the date of the strike was announced in advance. State Transport Minister Aftab Ahmed had to hold an emergency meeting at Chandigarh with Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Transport Department to find out a solution. All the senior officials in the secretariat were confused, wherein the Chief Secretary had to appeal to the roadways employees to call off the strike followed by media interaction by RR Jowel, finance commissioner (Transport).