Trade unions’ strike gets mixed response on Day 1
BATHINDA/AMRITSAR/JALANDHAR/ PATIALA: The strike by central trade unions evoked a mixed response on Day 1 in Punjab on Tuesday. Central trade unions, except Rss-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, launched the two-day nationwide strike to protest against proposed labour reforms and worker policies of the Bjp-led government. The bandh partly affected the public life in the state.
In Bathinda, anganwadi workers, medical representatives, employees of Ambuja Cement and Ultra Tech Cement factories, forest department and of National Fertilisers Limited blocked the Bathinda-mansa road near the district administrative complex. However, shops and other business establishments remained open during the protest.
Banking services were also affected as employees held protest on the Goniana road. Convener of United Council of Financial Institutions Pawan Jindal said that bank employees will take part in the strike on Wednesday too.
Contractual employees of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited staged a protest outside the office of chief engineer demanding regularisation of their services.
AUTO DRIVERS PROTEST IN JALANDHAR
In Jalandhar, the auto-rickshaw union, employees of PUNBUS, banks and LIC held protests. The workers of United Auto-rickshaw Union carried out a protest march from Workshop Chowk till Inter-state Bus Terminal and raised the slogan, asking the government to fulfil their demands.
The protestors also carried out a protest outside district administration office and submitted a memorandum to deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma.
Demanding regularisation of their services, the PUNBUS employees blocked ISBT from 8am and 10am putting the commuters to inconvenience.
In Amritsar, hundreds of workers of various departments protested at Bhandari Bridge against the Bjp-led central government.
Addressing the protestors, union leaders termed policies of the central and Punjab government anti-worker and anti-people. They said the BJP promised to regularise contractual employees before elections, but to no avail.
In Patiala, employees of different banks observed strike. The employees held a protest at the Oriental Bank’s zonal office, here.
In Sangrur, 10 Left-backed organisations held a protest and blocked the Sangrur bus stand for almost 3 hours while raising slogans against central government demanding regular jobs.
“The strike has been organised jointly by all central trade unions, industrial workers, construction workers, brick-kiln workers, federations and associations of bank employees and other unions against Modi government,” said Sukhdev Sharama, local CPI leader.
TRADE UNIONS LAY SIEGE TO BUS STAND
Protesters laid a siege to the Ludhiana inter-state bus terminus (ISBT), putting commuters and bus passengers to inconvenience. Except private buses, all government buses remained off the road as various transport employee unions joined the protest. As the protest began around 10.30am, activists of various trade unions led by Communist Party of India (CPI) leader DP Maur marched towards the ISBT in Jawaharnagar.
The protesters staged a demonstration in front of the ISBT entrance, where they were joined by the transport union employees. As employees from public sector insurance companies also started arriving, the protesters soon plugged the entry of buses into the terminus.
This prompted traffic cops to swing into action and provide access to buses from alternative routes. Traffic on both sides of the road was blocked, leading to serpentine queues of vehicles on either side of the road leading to the bus stand.
The chaos worsened after former legislator and communist leader Tarsem Jodhan, along with nearly 500 of his supporters, majority of them women, arrived at the protest site, and staged a dharna on the road.
It took the cops nearly an hour to streamline the traffic flow.