The strike call given by Uttaranchal Roadways Karmchari Union (URKU) partially affected the services of State carrier on Thursday. The operation of the buses of roadways remained normal till 2 pm on the day but after that the services were hit as many drivers and conductors joined the strike. In the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT), hill depot and other places commuters started facing pinch of the strike from afternoon.
The divisional secretary of the URKU, K P Singh claimed that the strike is successful. He said that the strike started after 2 pm and it immediately started having its effect.
Singh said that the strike would continue till the State Government accepts the demand of the union. He said that most of the drivers and conductors of the State roadways are contractual workers and are members of the URKU. The strike call was given moral support by another union of the roadways, the Uttarakhand Roadways Employees Union (UREU).
The Deputy General Manager (DGM), ISBT, C P Kapoor told The Pioneer that the services were normal till 2 pm. He accepted that the strike had its effect in the evening. Meanwhile the administration of roadways has imposed a ban on leaves of its regular staff.
There are more than 3500 contractual workers in the State roadways. The URKU is demanding that the workers who are working for more than 5 years should be regularised as the declaration of State Government. It is learnt that there are 700 drivers and 1100 conductors in the roadways who are working for more than five years.
The branch secretary of the URKU, Dehradun, Sandeep Choudhary said that the drivers and conductors are now determined to take their agitation to a logical end. The members of the union are peeved over the fact that they had withdrawn their three day strike call on September 16 on the assurance of the State Government but no decision on the issue was taken since then. The fleet of the State roadways comprises 1250 buses.
The daily cash flow of the state roadways is Rs 1.25 crore per day and more than 1.40 lakh people commute daily in the buses of state transport carrier.