MSRTC to train and recruit 10,000 women bus drivers

PUNE: With the aim of working towards women empowerment, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) launched an initiative to train and recruit 10,000 women drivers. The initiative was inaugurated by former President of India, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on August 23, 2019.

From various parts of the state, the women will be selected and trained as bus drivers for the state transport undertaking. MSRTC which already has 36,000 male drivers aims to train and recruit 10,000 women drivers. It already has 4,500 women conductors on its buses.

This was the second attempt by the transport corporation to recruit women bus drivers after its first attempt in 2017. In the earlier attempt, the transport corporation could only recruit conductors due to legal hurdles.

Divakar Raote, Maharashtra’s transport minister, at an event said, “MSRTC could not recruit women drivers because of a rule that drivers needed three years’ heavy vehicle driving experience. But now, the Maharashtra government has scrapped that condition and MSRTC has decided to impart one year’s training to newly recruited women drivers.”

Post completion of a year’s training the women drivers will need to undergo a qualifying driver’s test and clear the same to be eligible for recruitment at various depots, added Raote.