Employees of Speedo Bus Service have gone on a strike in protest against non-payment of salaries for four months.
Punjab Transport Minister Jehanzeb Khan Khichi took notice of the protest and directed the authorities concerned to resolve the matter at the earliest.
The private company operating the bus service claimed that the salaries had been delayed because its arrears had not been received from the Mass Transit Authority. The authority, on the other hand, attributed the problem to a delay in receiving subsidy of Rs3 billion from the provincial government.
Some officials expressed suspicion that the protest was being used to put pressure on the government to pay the arrears.
The employees announced that they would continue protesting until they received their salaries.
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The employees of Speedo Bus have not received their salaries for four months. They also staged a protest demonstration on Gulberg Main Boulevard.
The protesters said that Speedo Bus is under the control of the Inbox company. “We all work in the bus service and we have been facing hardship for four months,” a protesting employee said on the occasion.
They said they had also observed a hunger over the issue. The protesting employees said the company had repeatedly given new dated for the payment of the salaries.
“We are poor people. If we don’t get paid, we will starve. The protest will continue until we receive our salaries,” a protester said.
The bus service is run on feeder routes for Metro Bus to transport passengers from different parts of the city to the stations of the mass transit system.
According to sources, 175 Speedo Buses are operating on 16 routes in the provincial capital. Initially, 200 buses were operating, but the previous government shifted more than 10 vehicles to other districts of the province. However, they were later brought back.
According to Punjab Mass Transit Authority sources, more than 80,000 passengers travel on the buses daily and a fare of Rs15 is charged from each of them. Passengers also have monthly travel cards.
The sources said that in the financial year 2018-19, more than Rs1.9 billion was paid as subsidy for Speedo Bus, while only Rs110 million was collected from passengers.
Thus the service caused a loss of Rs1.78 billion to the national exchequer, which is part of the province’s transport budget deficit.
When contacted, officials of Punjab Mass Transit Authority said it had to pay more than Rs60 million to the company. “We had not yet received the remaining Rs3 billion subsidy from the Punjab government. So we could not make the payment due to lack of funds,” an official said.
“We have now received a check for Rs3 billion and we will pay the arrears to Inbox this week,” he said.
The official said most of the amount due had been paid to the company.
The amount of salaries was much less than the arrears and the company was using the employees to get its dues paid, he alleged.
The general manager of Inbox Company said Punjab government owed it Rs400 million. “That is why our company is facing a financial crisis.”
The provincial transport minister said while speaking to The Express Tribune that the government was striving to provide affordable and quality transport facilities to the people. The employees were protesting against their company, he added.
“We owe a small amount to the company. It is the company’s responsibility to pay salaries to employees,” the minister said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2021.
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