Chandigarh: Normal life was disrupted in
Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Wednesday due to the nationwide strike called
by the central trade unions in support of their various demands including steps
to control price rise and strict enforcement of labour laws.
The impact of the strike was felt on public
transport services as majority of state owned buses plying on inter-state
routes in Punjab and Haryana remained off the roads.
"We are not seeing arrival of buses from
Punjab and Haryana (operating on inter-state routes)," said Director,
Transport, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking T P S Phoolka.
However, he said CTU buses were plying
normally in Chandigarh.
Punjab Transport Secretary Mandeep Singh said
district administration would have to ensure that public transport services are
not hampered in any part of the state.
With the strike call threatening to cast its
shadow on medical services, Post Graduate Institute of Medical, Education and
Research (PGIMER) said that a contingency plan had been put in place to prevent
any adverse impact of the nationwide strike.
About 2,000 contractual labourers and safai
karamcharis of the hospital have threatened to observe strike. PGI authorities
said they had asked their permanent staff to perform duties of striking workers
in order to prevent any disruption in medical services.
“We have asked our permanent staff to perform
duties of striking workers. We have also warned them (striking employees) that
no work no pay rule shall be implemented in case they join strike,"
PGIMER,
spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar said here.
Banking services in public sector banks will
also be hit as bank employees including officers are also observing a two-day
strike in protest against banking reforms, outsourcing etc.
"Employees of all public sector banks as
well as old private banks will observe strike and banking transactions will be
impacted," said Naresh Gaur, Secretary, Punjab Bank Employees Federation.
Protesting employees have planned to hold
demonstrations and rallies across Punjab and Haryana to press their demands.
Meanwhile, medium and large industries in
Punjab and Haryana have expressed fears of production loss because of the
two-day strike
"There may be loss of production...
(though) we will try to continue our production lines. But it will depend how
many workers come during the strike," Director of Hero Cycles S K Rai had
said yesterday.
Punjab has about 1.70 lakh small scale units
while Haryana has 1212 large and medium industries.
Toughening its stance against protesting
employees, Chandigarh Administration had asked workers of electricity
department not to observe two-day strike on the call given by the Central Trade
Unions.
Advising employees to stay away from the
strike, the Chandigarh Administration warned that in case of workers going on
strike, the principle of 'No work No Pay' shall be implemented.
CITU Punjab General Secretary Raghunath Singh
said workers would not allow functioning of factories, brick kiln units, public
transport, electricity, trucks, saying that workers would not join their
duties.
The unions are demanding urgent steps to
control price rise, strict enforcement of labour laws in all places of work,
social security net for workers in the unorganised sector, end to disinvestment
in PSUs and raising minimum wage to Rs 10,000.
Source : http://zeenews.india.com
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