Haryana govt invites roadways employees for fresh round of talks

In a bid to end deadlock, the Haryana government has invited roadways employees on a strike for the last eight days for a fresh round of talks on Wednesday.

Protesting against the state government's decision to hire 700 private buses for the Haryana Roadways, the state transporter's employees had Monday extended their strike by three days.

"We have been invited for fresh round of talks by the government. Talks will be held between the union leaders representing the roadways employees and Haryana Transport Minister Krishan Lal Panwar," said Balwan Sigh, a member of the coordination committee of the Haryana Roadways Employees Union.

When asked that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had ruled out to roll back the government's decision to hire 700 private buses, Balwan Singh said, "We are going to attend the talks with an open mind. We don't want to prejudge anything. Nobody should blame us tomorrow that we ran away from talks. Let's see what the government has to offer now".

The employees had extended their stir fearing that hiring private buses was a part of the government's plan to privatise state road transport corporation.

They also accused the government of trying to benefit some private transporters by hiring private buses for roadways, a charge which the chief minister had refuted stoutly.

In view of the ongoing strike, the state government has been making alternate arrangements and has started hiring new drivers and conductors to ensure no one faces any hardship.

Services of 47 drivers, who were on probation and taking part in the strike, have been terminated, officials said on Tuesday.

As part of the alternate arrangements, the officials said that on Tuesday 2,802 buses plied, which included 1,464 from Haryana Roadways fleet while the other buses were hired from other sources including some schools.

Reports said the state government has sought help from some neighbouring states requesting them to ply additional buses in Haryana during the ongoing strike.

Defying ESMA, the employees have been on strike since October 16 against the state government's decision to hire 700 buses from private owners. The employees' union has demanded cancellation of the tenders issued till now for hiring 510 private buses.

There are about 19,000 employees in the Haryana Roadways, having a fleet of 4,100 buses. The roadways caters to 12 lakh passengers daily.