BATHINDA/Kapurthala/Ludhiana, July 10 -- Bus services across Punjab were hit as contractual employees of the state-owned Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transportation Corporation began their three-day strike on Wednesday to press their demands, including regularisation of their jobs, abolition of contract-based hiring and induction of new buses. Later in the evening, the employee unions withdrew their stir following a meeting with finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema and transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar in Chandigarh. After talks with union representatives, Cheema directed the transport department to hold a meeting with them in the next 15 days to consider their demands and submit a concrete report to the cabinet subcommittee, headed by him, to resolve their legitimate issues, according to an official statement. The finance minister assured the union leaders that the Punjab government is making every possible effort to resolve their long-pending issues. Earlier in the day, confusion and chaos prevailed at major bus stands, with many passengers unaware of the strike. In Bathinda and adjoining districts, more than 75% of buses stayed off the road and the protesters blocked the exits of various bus stands, affecting services. In Hoshiarpur, Davinder Kumar (66), a resident of Bane Di Hatti near Gagret in Himachal Pradesh, said he arrived with his wife on a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus this morning, intending to board a government bus to Gurdaspur. He was unaware of the strike and had been waiting at the bus stand for over an hour. "I had no option but to board a packed private bus," he said. Vishal (21), a resident of Dasuya who works in Chandigarh said. "I was on a short leave and reached Hoshiarpur from my home town Dasuya this morning in a private bus. I've been waiting here at the bus stand for nearly an hour, but not a single private bus to Chandigarh has arrived yet," he said. "With government buses remaining off the roads, I have no other alternative but to rely on a private bus, whenever it comes. At the Sangrur bus stand also a passenger working in a private bank said he waited for a bus for over an hour to go to his office in Patiala....