Penalty has been levied for not running necessary bus service on route, and employees concerned with the case have been removed from job.
In a significant announcement on Saturday, the Punjab Government has taken the step to suspend all the Roadways employees who took part in the protest against the newly implemented Kilometre Scheme. The department has already sent out an informative email to all the temporary employees regarding the decision.
According to the email, the employees were the ones that lost the state money due to their involvement in the illegal strike. A penalty has been levied for not running the necessary bus service on the route, and the employees concerned with the case have been removed from the job instantly.
In the letter of suspension sent to the four employees, their allegation of harassing passengers traveling on Punjab government buses with sarcasm is mentioned. As a result of the ongoing strike, the commuters were very much troubled in their journey. So, now they are being punished for it.
The strike conducted by the casual employees of roadways is illegal.
The temporary roadways employees’ strike is not legal. “We would like to further inform you that on November 28, 2025, the illegal strike caused hundreds of the buses from different depots to abandon operations. This led to a financial loss of Rs 9,520 per bus per day because of the fare, overtime, wages, etc. Plus, the department suffered a financial loss of Rs 11,939 per bus.”
According to the letter, the Transport Department sent them a notice on November 28 and ordered them to attend duty. Although, the drivers did not turn up on their designated routes on November 29 too. This made them to miss their duty of 301 km per bus.
In this case, Condition 15 of the agreement between the department and contractual employees has been violated. So, the employees are being terminated for causing financial loss and engaging in an illegal strike.
As far as people who are not familiar with the contract-based employees of Punjab Roadways and the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) are concerned, it is noteworthy that they have gone on a strike. The Roadways workers are asking for the Kilometer Scheme to be revoked, their withheld union leaders be released, and the hiring of contract employees into the regular staff body be done.
It would also be important to note the fact that the Punjab roadways protest on Friday also got escalated in certain districts. For instance, the Sangrur protest went wrong when a protesting employee tried to set himself on fire by pouring petrol on himself. The SHO of Dhuri got burn injuries while trying to stop him. The officer was taken to the hospital for treatment. A video of the incident is also in circulation.
