LAHORE: As suspension of the operation of Lahore Metro Bus due to “wheel-jam strike” by the drivers entered its second day on Sunday, the people continued to suffer because of non-availability of affordable public transport to commute within the city.

“I, like many others, used to travel by metro bus on a daily basis. But, for the last two days, I have to use rickshaw or some other means of transport to reach my destinations. Due to the suspension of the service (between Shahdara and Gajju Matah), other transport is costing dearly to the public, which is already burdened due to the unbridled price hike,” Arsalan, a resident of a locality off the Ferozepur Road, told Dawn on Sunday.

The metro bus service had been launched in the city in February, 2013, a couple of months before the general elections.

The project, first of its kind in Pakistan, is said to be facilitating as many as 150,000 passengers’ travel daily within the metropolitan city. The operation of the metro bus had been entrusted to M/s Platform Turizm – a subsidiary of a group of companies (Al-Bayrak) in 2013 for a period of seven years, ending last year.

Turkish contractor dubs protest a ‘conspiracy’

However, the company continued to function on extensions granted by the government after expiry of the contract. The ongoing extension period is reportedly ending on August 31. However, the company is still not sure whether its contract is going to be extended or not, since the government is all set to place a new contractor for the metro bus operations with the induction of a fleet of 64 new buses.

Since the company had outsourced provision of drivers for the buses in 2013, it is of the view that the demands of the drivers protesting for their rights (provision of bonuses, benefits, increase in salaries etc) for the last 10 days or so, are “unlawful”.

“The drivers didn’t raise these issues through protests over the last eight years. Why they are protesting now, especially at a time when our contract (extension period) is about to end. So we are not liable to accept their demands, as the third party/firm, which had actually recruited them, should resolve their issues,” Ms Asia Ramzan, Al-Bayrak’s Manager (Human Resource), told Dawn.

When asked why the company was distancing itself from the protesting drivers, since they are employees of the third party firm appointed by the main contractor (Al-Bayrak itself), she said that in 2018 the company, over a couple of complaints, had even removed one of its third party firms that used to supply drivers and other human resource to it. “We are taking the ongoing situation (drivers’ protests) as a conspiracy to defame the Turkish firm, as was done in the case of the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), when its (firm’s) entire machinery and other assets were taken over by the government through police, just 10 days before expiry of the contract extension period on various pretexts,” she maintained.

Meanwhile, the company’s management also held a press briefing on Sunday, stating that the company had signed a contract in September, 2012 for procurement, operations and maintenance of metro buses for a period of eight years. The firm, Platform, not only operated the desired number of metro buses as per the contract, but also procured four additional buses from its own sources as a goodwill gesture to strengthen the capacity of the project.

“During the concurrency of the contract of Platform with the government, Platform had signed agreements with the labour provider firms for provision of services of their employees to meet its human resource requirements. Platform has paid all the dues and is still paying the amounts against the services provided by the employees of the labour provider firms without any delay or hindrance,” said Haseeb Baig, the company’s legal advisor told reporters.

Flanked by HR Manager Ms Ramzan and Finance Manager Mr Hasnain, Baig said the protesting drivers, who were the employees of the labour providers (firms) had signed job agreements with their recruiters and not with Platform. Moreover, he said, the employees were regularly receiving their remuneration, along with other benefits, from their employer (the third party) and nothing was pending till July 2021.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2021