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To deliver smooth services to the public as well as keeping in mind the thousands of drivers working under the Delhi Transport Corporation, the transport department intends to employ its own drivers for 2,000 e-buses that will be inducted going forward. The department has sent a request to Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), to induct buses through Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME)II, a scheme of the government of India, by which the Centre supports the states in buying e-buses.
According to officials, the 250 e-buses inducted in the last three months have DTC conductors, but the drivers are hired by the concessionaire. “The concessionaire who has the contract to maintain and operate the buses for a 12-year period also hires drivers on a contractual basis. Now, the department has decided to induct 2,000 buses under a system that will allow DTC drivers to take the wheel,” said a transport official.
The AAP government has set a target to buy only e-buses in the future for the public transport fleet. CM Arvind Kejriwal, while inaugurating the second batch of e-buses, recently said 80 per cent of buses that will be procured in the coming years will be electric.
Officials said the main reason behind the transport department’s move is to prevent unemployment and ensure that drivers working under DTC still have jobs.
“Almost all DTC buses have crossed the running… With the arrival of new buses, older ones will be phased out gradually, and if the concessionaire brings their own drivers for new buses, the DTC drivers, especially those on a contractual basis, will be jobless. Plus, when DTC will have its own drivers and conductors in its buses, it will deliver 100% services and service utilisation will be better,” said another senior DTC official.
Officials said that they have a target to procure 6,300 e-buses by 2025. Of this, a tender for inducting about 4,000 will be floated within a month. “Of the total, 2,300 buses will be 9 metres in length and will be for last-mile connectivity in places where standard buses cannot reach, such as rural parts of the city,” said an official.
According to an RTI reply by the DTC, it had 8,441 permanent drivers in 2015 and 5,344 in 2022, while the number of conductors went from 5,745 to 185.
DTC Karamchari Ekta Union has welcomed the government’s decision. “It is a good step because currently, the companies delivering the buses hire their own drivers. If this continues, we DTC drivers will be jobless,” said Manoj Sharma, the union general secretary.
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