On 10 March 2008, the employees of the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC), who were on strike, withdrew their 20-day strike after the assurance of the Minister for Transport, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, to address the issues of pending salary and the cost of living allowance (COLA) of the employees immediately. The decision to withdraw the strike was announced by the SRTC Employees Joint Action Committee after a successful meeting of the representatives of SRTC employees, State Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) and SRTC management, chaired by the minister.

Thousands of employees of the SRTC of Jammu Kashmir, including drivers, conductors and administrative staff, have been protesting against the alleged apathetic attitude of the government of not accepting their demands since 19 February 2008. Besides the demand for the immediate release of their salaries, the employees were also demanding the release of the pending installments of their provident fund, funds for the maintenance of old vehicles, and a special package of two billion rupees to revive the corporation. The strike affected bus services across the state.

In the initial days of the strike itself, the Jammu and Kashmir government had issued orders declaring the strike as unlawful. The state government had declared SRTC as an essential service under the Essential Services (Maintenance) Ordinance 2001 and had threatened to take strict action if not resuming the work. “The employees of the corporation cannot abandon their employment and duty or absent themselves from the work or abstain from discharging their duties, failing which they shall be deemed to have committed an offence under Section 5 of the Ordinance,” it said.

The representatives of SRTC employees announced that the employees of the corporation on strike would resume their duties from 11 March 2008 onwards and SRTC bus services on all routes, including the inter-state routes, would ply normally.