Contractual employees of the state-owned Punjab Roadways Tuesday went on a three-day strike in support of their demands including regularisation of their jobs and increase in salary.
More than 1,500 buses stayed off the road across Punjab, causing inconvenience to passengers.
Under the banner of Punjab Roadways Punbus Contractual workers union, the protesters are mostly drivers and conductors.
"Contractual employees have been working for the past several years but they have not been regularised," said a protesting member of the union in Ludhiana on Tuesday.
They claimed that drivers and conductors were being paid a meagre amount of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 per month as salaries.
The protesters held demonstrations at several bus depots including the ones at Ludhiana and Amritsar and did not allow the movement of buses.
They also raised slogans against the state government for not acceding to their long pending demands.
The state administration deployed police force at the bus depots to prevent any untoward incident.
Contractual workers have also threatened to 'gherao' the residence of Punjab Transport minister Razia Sultana at Malerkotla in Sangrur on July 3 as part of their protest.
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