Ludhiana, Sept. 16 -- For the ninth time this year, operations at the Ludhiana bus stand were brought to a halt on Monday as contractual workers staged a two-hour protest. The shutdown, which lasted from 12 pm to 2 pm, was a direct response to repeated delays in salary payments, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and causing significant traffic disruption.

The sudden shutdown called under the banner of Punjab Roadways, Punbus and PRTC contractual workers union threw the bus stand into a frenzy where hundreds of passengers waiting to board their respective buses found themselves stranded in the middle of the working day.

Passengers, particularly females, seemed scrambling from counters to counters in search of few operational ones. ...