Following the Haryana Roadways’ decision to terminate services of at least 250 bus drivers across the state, union workers, led by the Haryana Roadways Joint Action Committee, will hold protests at bus depots across Haryana on Monday between 10am and 12pm.

In Gurugram, where at least 50 drivers have received termination notices, the protest is scheduled to be held between 12pm and 2pm.

On November 29, at a meeting in Chandigarh, senior Haryana Roadways officials decided to terminate the services of close to 300 drivers in keeping with the transport department’s outsourcing policy, which was drafted in 2015.

According to the policy, 413 bus drivers were enrolled with the Haryana Roadways for a period of one year in 2016. Of the 413 drivers contracted in 2016, about 100 were formally enrolled with the Roadways this year, while the rest now stand to lose their jobs.

Union workers said there was no logical explanation for the layoffs, considering that the Haryana Roadways has, for the last several years, been facing a shortage of bus drivers and conductors.

“We have more than enough vacancies. In fact, every time a driver quits, it adds to commuter woes because it puts buses out of service. This is just a way to worsen commuter woes, which the organization will then use as an excuse to bring in private vehicles as they have been planning to do,” said Sandeep Dalal, a joint action committee union worker in Gurugram.

A senior transport department official, who was present at the meeting on November 29, said the layoffs were necessary keeping in mind the financial struggles of the Haryana Roadways.

The official, who did not wish to be identified, however, denied that the move had anything to do with the ongoing tussle between union workers and the Haryana Roadways over privatization of the state’s bus fleet.

First Published: Dec 03, 2018 11:13 IST