Haryana Roadways strike makes partial impact
CHANDIGARH : A large number of passengers were left in the lurch in some districts in wake of the strike by Haryana Roadways Sarvkarmchari Sangh on Wednesday, while it evoked partial impact in most of the districts.
According to information, the government which had been asked to effectively enforce Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against the striking employees, detained several protesting employees and canecharged them at a few places.
The employees are protesting against the government decision to rope in 700 buses from private operators, which they alleged was an attempt to favour some chosen few and a step towards privatisation in the department. Additional chief secretary (ACS), transport department, Dhanpat Singh, however, refuted the claims.
Haryana roadways karmchari sanyukt sangharsh samiti leader Sarbat Punia said that the samiti condemns the lathicharge on employees and lodging of cases against them. “We would launch an indefinite strike if the government does not take back all the cases against our employees and leaders,” he said.
Stating that there were some preventive arrests for violation of Section 144 (unlawful assembly) of the CrPC, Dhanpal refused knowledge of any cases under ESMA off-hand. He said services at Hisar, Kurukshetra, Narnaul, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Rewari and Panchkula were hit initially but resumed in the evening.
NO VISIBLE IMPACT IN NORTHERN DISTRICTS
The ‘chakka jam’ call failed to evoke a visible response in the northern districts of the state.
In Kurukshetra, DC SS Phulia said that the buses plied normally. In Karnal too, the service remained normal and the district administration had deputed 50 private buses to ensure proper transportation. Similarly, the bus service remained unaffected in Yamumanagar, Panipat and Kaithal districts too.
PROTESTERS CANE CHARGED
HISAR: Following orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Jind and Fatehabad police cane-charged and arrested some protesters on Wednesday.
In Hisar, the police arrested over 50 protesters, including the Haryana roadways union leader pradhan Dalbir Kirmara. Some disturbance was witnessed at a roadways depot in Hisar when a driver tried to take the first bus on Hisar-Chandigarh route at 3.50am and the protesters started raising anti-government slogans.
Further, the police arrested seven protesters from Dadri bus stand as a protester stood in front of a bus to stop it from plying. The police ordered lathicharge and made arrests.
However, some protesters laid down in front of buses that started from Rohtak to Chandigarh and Haridwar.
43 HELD IN AMBALA
AMBALA: The police took 43 protesters in custody in Ambala. They were arrested while trying to stop the buses from coming out of the depot. They said that the employees were booked under sections 5, 6 and 7 of the ESMA and later produced in the court of judicial magistrate Manvika Yadav, which sent them to judicial custody till June 19. Meanwhile, the bus services remained disrupted in the district and only limited buses plied on the road.