After the Himachal Road Transport Corporation employees’ union announced that it would stop services from Wednesday midnight, the Himachal Government has issued an order bringing HRTC services under Essential Services Maintenance Act. The move prohibits the protesting employees from proceeding on a strike.Earlier today, the union announced that HRTC services would stop from Wednesday midnight as the talks between the government and employees had failed to break the deadlock. After the talks failed, the driver and conductor union announced to proceed on strike from midnight tomorrow.The union said their pending dues, which had swelled to around Rs 100 crore, had not been paid since long.Union president Maan Singh Thakur said a meeting was scheduled with Secretary Transport to sort out the matter but the meeting failed to break the deadlock. He alleged that the employees’ demands were not taken seriously during the meeting.Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who also holds the Transport portfolio, urged employees to withdraw the strike call. “We have ensured the timely payment of salaries and pensions for the past 42 months. The Old Pension Scheme has been restored for HRTC employees, and they are receiving dearness allowance on par with other government departments. While some allowances are pending, halting bus services is not the solution,” he said.Taking a firm stand, Agnihotri said the government had invoked ESMA to ensure uninterrupted public transport services and urged employees not to take any step that could worsen the situation. “We will take all possible measures, including recruiting new drivers and conductors if required, to keep HRTC services operational,” he added.The HRTC employees, however, maintained that the imposition of ESMA would not deter them from proceeding with the strike. “The government is trying to intimidate us by invoking ESMA, but HRTC employees are prepared to fight for their rights. Nothing except the release of our pending dues will stop us from going ahead with the planned strike,” Thakur said.