Haryana Roadways employees go on strike over death of driver

Employees of the Haryana Roadways went on a strike demanding the arrest of those involved in the murder of a bus driver in Amb ala and also compensation for the family of the deceased.

The employees, under the banner of the Haryana Roadways Employees' Union, proceeded on strike from midnight.

The strike also caused inconvenience to many passengers at various bus stands in the state as they kept waiting for the roadway buses.

The protesting employees held 'dharnas' at several bus stands including Yamunnanagar, Charkhi Dadri, Karnal, Sonipat, Sirsa, Hisar and Narnaul and shouted slogans.

Haryana Roadways bus driver Rajveer (51) died after he was attacked by unknown assailants in Ambala on the intervening night of November 12 and 13, police had said.

Rajveer, a resident of Sonipat, was posted at Ambala Cantonment Bus Stand. After being attacked, he was brought to the Civil Hospital of Ambala Cantonment in a critical condition and later referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh, where he died during treatment, they said.

On the night of the incident, Rajveer was on parking duty when he was attacked by four to five car occupants after an argument broke out between them.

The protesting employees are demanding the arrest of the attackers, Rs 50 lakh compensation for Rajveer's family and a government job for one of his family members.

A protester in Sonipat said they will not end their strike till their demands are met.

With the Haryana Roadways buses staying off the roads, passengers bore the brunt of the strike as they kept waiting for the buses.

Ambala resident Surjit Singh, who works in Chandigarh, said that he kept waiting for the roadways bus but could not find any of it.

Senior Vice President of Haryana Roadways Union Raman Saini said all the roadway buses did not ply in the state.

The bus services remained affected because of the strike call on the Bhai Dooj festival.

Migrant labourer Ram Saroup, who had to go to Saharanpur to visit his sister's house to celebrate Bhai Dooj, said he waited for a bus near Ambala Cantt roadways bus stand but failed to get any. Later, he had to hire a private taxi for which he was charged an exorbitant amount.

Pratibha Rani, a government employee in Panchkula and a daily commuter, said she had to take a leave as she could not get the bus to Panchkula.

At Karnal bus stand, a passenger rued that he was unable to get any roadways bus for going to Yamunanagar while an elderly passenger said that because of the strike, the public was facing inconvenience.

In Kurukshetra, protesting employees staged a 'dharna' and demanded action against those who were behind the murder of the bus driver.

In Hisar, Subhash Dhillon, a leader of the Haryana Roadways Employees union claimed that no bus plied from the Hisar bus depot because of the strike.

Hisar resident Dheeraj Valecha, who was to go to Rajasthan, said he had been waiting for the bus for the last three hours.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)