Metro Bus staff on strike over non-payment of salaries

Rawalpindi: The Metro Bus Service (MBS) in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad once again suspended as employees were protesting over non-payment of salaries here on Monday. The protesters demanded salaries of two months otherwise they will not ply buses on the track. On the other hand, MBA management has claimed that the management has paid the salary of the staff to their relevant employer companies. Now it is a matter between the companies the staff.

The staffers of metro busses also said that the private company ‘Prime HR’ has not paid salaries for March and April. Protesters say as many as 300 staffers of Metro Bus Service who were by the third party have now been told their contracts are expiring by May 31.

Metro Bus Authority (MBS) Director Ms Shumaila said that we have already paid salaries of employees to their concerned private companies where we hired them. The reliable sources told ‘The News’ that the long delay in the release of the quarterly amount of subsidy to the Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) by the provincial government has been cited as the main reason for non-payment of salaries to the employees. The Punjab government is responsible of paying Rs12.5billion annual subsidy for the metro bus in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan. The PMTA a subsidiary of the government’s transport department receives subsidy in four quarterly installments and makes payments to the companies where it had hired the services related to ticketing, cleanliness, bus operations, security, repair/maintenance staff etc. However, for a couple of years especially during the last six months, the release of quarterly subsidy to the PMTA and subsequently to the companies has been facing delays due to some unexplained administrative and functional issues allegedly on the part of government, the sources said.