Dharamshala: Employees of Himachal State Public Transport (HRTC) have threatened to go on a two-day strike starting from Monday (13.6.2016) night.
About 8,000 Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) employees will go on a two-day strike over demands, which includes regularisation of contract staff and protection of pension benefits.
HRTC has a fleet of over 2,500 buses that ply within and outside the state. The transport employees have also threatened to stop the operations of chartered and other states’ roadways buses till the strike period.
Transport Minister G.S.Bali has repeatedly appealed to call off the strike as he assured the employees that 90% of their demands have already been accepted.
He also requested the passengers to cancel their bookings for the said period and make alternate arrangements .
Hotel owners across the hilly state have expressed concern about public transport services being disrupted at a time when they expect a heavy rush of summer tourists in the week ahead because of the searing heat in the plains.
On an average, about 10,000 to 15,000 tourists from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi visit Shimla and nearby destinations during this season.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
