The State Roadways should function as a commercial entity and the State Government is committed to improve the condition of the State public carrier. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat, said this while addressing the one-day biennial convention of Uttarakhand Roadways Employees Union (UREU) organised at the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) here on Sunday.
Speaking as chief guest on the occasion, Rawat said that the State Government has waived off the debt of the roadways and started schemes like Nirbhaya Bus Service for women. He said that for the benefit of senior citizens, the State Government has decided that it would provide free services to them in the buses of State roadways.
Addressing the convention the general secretary of UREU Ashok Kumar Chaudhary said that CM Rawat has taken series of steps to improve the condition of roadways after assuming charge of the department. He said that the transport department should give the status of contractual workers to 2,800 outsource employees working in the transport corporation. Chaudhary said the drivers employed under out sourcing in the State roadways are paid only Rs1.20 per km, which should be increased to Rs2 per km. The leaders of the union handed over a memorandum depicting their 12 point demands to the Chief Minister on the ocassion.
The demands of the union include taking over of the management of ISBT from Remki Company, implementation of two tier promotion scheme in the corporation, constitution of Transport Corporation Board and cessation of purchase of diesel from private petrol pumps. In the convention a motion of thanks was passed praising the State Government for abolishing the agency system.
The convention was also addressed by the State Forest Minister Dinesh Aggarwal, State Congress president Kishore Upadhyaya, Doiwala MlA Hira Singh Bisht, patron of UREU Sushil Rathi and others. large number of employees from all parts of the State participated in one-day convention.