Punjab: PRTC contract workers hit streets, demand regularisation, threaten self-immolation

The protesting contract workers while demanding regularization threatened self-immolation in case their demands were not met.

Chandigarh: The Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) contract workers union on Saturday staged a sit-in outside the Punjab bus depot in Chandigarh seeking redress of their long pending demands including regularization of their services. The workers who protested atop the transport buses tried self-immolation giving an ultimatum to the government over their demands.

The protesting drivers and conductors demanded the government stop the recruitment process through outsourcing while demanding that they be regularized in the corporation instead. The protesters said that despite working on low wages for many years, the government has not regularized them and they are being exploited continuously by making them work on contract.

The protesters issued a stern warning to the government and said that if the outsourcing recruitment process is not stopped, they will self-immolate by pouring petrol on themselves and the government will be responsible for it. The other demands of the protesting drivers and conductors include reinstatement of the employees removed on one or another pretext, introducing new buses by the roadways department, recruitment of staff on a permanent basis, etc.

They had held a similar protest on September 3 in Tarn Taran.