Metro Bus Service suspended as employees go on strike

LAHORE: Lahore’s Metro Bus Services came to a halt after its staffers went on strike over non-payment of their salaries for the past two months on Monday, ARY News reported.

People who rely on the Metro buses for daily commute are facing hardships as a number of its stations have been shut by the protesting employees who have stopped issuing tickets.

The strikers, employed by a private company, said they have been deprived of their salaries for the past two months.

The Mass Transit Authority general manager said the provincial government make timely payment of all dues to the company.

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Uzair Shah said the issue concerning non-payment of salaries to the protesting employees has nothing to do with the authority.

Last year in March, the Punjab cabinet’s standing committee on finance had rejected a proposal to jack up fares of the Metro Bus Services.

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, who presided over a meeting of the committee, said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government didn’t want to put financial burden on the poor by hiking fares.

He directed the authorities concerned to work out other viable means to scale up the resources. “It is our responsibility to provide relief to common man,” he told the committee.