<p> Delhi Transport Corporation plans to make do with short-term hiring of bus conductors even as Arvind Kejriwal government plans to add at least 1,000 buses to the DTC fleet to allow imposition of the ‘successful’ odd-even rationing of road space from time to time. <br /><br />Ahead of this month’s odd-even plan, Delhi government invited over 13,000 candidates registered with the employment exchange to appear for the interviews for the short-term jobs. <br /><br />Around 2,000 appeared, but rest didn’t show up.<br />The short-term employees get the ‘minimum wage’ guaranteed by the government. <br />“In all, 1,719 candidates including 446 empanelled candidates who were on select panel have been deployed as conductor on short-term contract to meet the emergent requirement and proper operation of the additional buses,” the Corporation said in a report to the government on odd-even formula.</p>.<p><br />The DTC operated nearly 1,200 contract carriages under the ‘Paryavaran Bus Sewa’ service, rolled out during the 15-day odd-even trial early this month. According to Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai, more than one-third of private schools had refused to give its buses for the odd-even scheme.<br /> <br />Schools in the Capital were closed during the odd-even trail between January 1 and 15 because of a government order. <br /><br />Sufficient buses<br />As per a December 10, 2015 letter, Transport Department wanted to engage “sufficient number of additional buses”.<br /><br />The department said it required anything between 4,000 and 5,000 buses to accommodate the shift away from private vehicles. <br /><br />But the government scaled down its target of hiring private buses as it decided to give a host of exemptions, including to female drivers, two-wheelers and taxis. <br /><br />The Kejriwal government has decided to expedite buying of 1,000 new buses since it is unequivocal about its plans of continuing with the odd-even scheme. At a public event to “congratulate” Delhi for “successful” implementation of the road rationing drive, Rai had promised to induct new buses after July. <br /><br />According to a DTC official, the government has no plans of hiring conductors as full-timers in near future. <br /><br />When employed on short-term basis, conductors take home less than Rs 500 as wages daily – a lucrative deal for many part-time job seekers in Delhi.<br />The official said most of these candidates are enrolled in correspondence programmes in universities.<br /><br />Currently, the Corporation runs its fleet of over 4,000 working buses with 4,000 drivers and 7,000 conductors working on contract.<br /></p>
<p> Delhi Transport Corporation plans to make do with short-term hiring of bus conductors even as Arvind Kejriwal government plans to add at least 1,000 buses to the DTC fleet to allow imposition of the ‘successful’ odd-even rationing of road space from time to time. <br /><br />Ahead of this month’s odd-even plan, Delhi government invited over 13,000 candidates registered with the employment exchange to appear for the interviews for the short-term jobs. <br /><br />Around 2,000 appeared, but rest didn’t show up.<br />The short-term employees get the ‘minimum wage’ guaranteed by the government. <br />“In all, 1,719 candidates including 446 empanelled candidates who were on select panel have been deployed as conductor on short-term contract to meet the emergent requirement and proper operation of the additional buses,” the Corporation said in a report to the government on odd-even formula.</p>.<p><br />The DTC operated nearly 1,200 contract carriages under the ‘Paryavaran Bus Sewa’ service, rolled out during the 15-day odd-even trial early this month. According to Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai, more than one-third of private schools had refused to give its buses for the odd-even scheme.<br /> <br />Schools in the Capital were closed during the odd-even trail between January 1 and 15 because of a government order. <br /><br />Sufficient buses<br />As per a December 10, 2015 letter, Transport Department wanted to engage “sufficient number of additional buses”.<br /><br />The department said it required anything between 4,000 and 5,000 buses to accommodate the shift away from private vehicles. <br /><br />But the government scaled down its target of hiring private buses as it decided to give a host of exemptions, including to female drivers, two-wheelers and taxis. <br /><br />The Kejriwal government has decided to expedite buying of 1,000 new buses since it is unequivocal about its plans of continuing with the odd-even scheme. At a public event to “congratulate” Delhi for “successful” implementation of the road rationing drive, Rai had promised to induct new buses after July. <br /><br />According to a DTC official, the government has no plans of hiring conductors as full-timers in near future. <br /><br />When employed on short-term basis, conductors take home less than Rs 500 as wages daily – a lucrative deal for many part-time job seekers in Delhi.<br />The official said most of these candidates are enrolled in correspondence programmes in universities.<br /><br />Currently, the Corporation runs its fleet of over 4,000 working buses with 4,000 drivers and 7,000 conductors working on contract.<br /></p>
