Faridabad: The state government on Saturday decided to sack 365 drivers employed on a contractual basis in 2016 across the state.
The General Manager of the Faridabad depot has already ordered the sacking of 37 drivers in this regard. This has resulted in great resentment in the Haryana Roadways Workers Union, whose members staged a demonstration against the move.
“The Transport Department seems to have got exposed in its own web of lies it had been weaving for the past few years regarding the transport services,’’ said Ramashray Prasad Singh, general secretary of the union affiliated to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh (SKS). Condemning the sacking of the 37 employees, who had been employed on a contractual basis in April 2016, he said, while the government was winding up the bus services on long routes claiming staff shortage, the removal of 37 experienced drivers was shocking and contrary to the claims of the authorities.
“The sacking has been started from here, the removal of other drivers in state was likely to follow soon,’’ he said, adding that it was not only a huge insult to employees, but exposed the motive of winding up the government Transport Department itself. While more than a dozen buses from routes like Lucknow, Haridwar, Kotdwar, Shimla and Rishikesh have been stopped due to the shortage of drivers, he said the sacking of staff was disgusting and unacceptable.
We will soon chalk out an action plan to stop the government to privatise the department through such tactics, he said.
Criticising the move, Subhash Lamba, general secretary of the SKS, Haryana, and Balwan Singh Dodwa of the All Haryana Roadways Coordination Committee, said the state government was punishing the employees of the department for the 18-day strike that took place in October-November last by sacking them in a phased manner. While the SKS leader said the issue would be taken up at a meeting due to be held on December 9, Dodwa said action plan for an agitation might be finalised on December 5 in Rohtak.
Admitting the sacking of 37 drivers, Vikas Yadav, GM, Haryana Roadways, Faridabad, said it had been done on the basis of the decision taken at a meeting held in Chandigarh on November 29. These employees had been recruited under the outsourcing policy, part-2, of April 6, 2015, and it was till the appointment of the regular staff, he said, adding that the department had a surplus staff of over 200 drivers here recruited this year.
Surplus staff, says official
- Admitting the sacking of 37 drivers, Vikas Yadav, GM, Haryana Roadways, Faridabad, said it had been done on the basis of the decision taken at a meeting held in Chandigarh on November 29.
- These employees had been recruited under the outsourcing policy, part-2, of April 6, 2015, and it was till the appointment of the regular staff, he said, adding that the department had a surplus staff of over 200 drivers here recruited this year.
