As fleet transitions to electric, DTC deploys bus drivers to steer official vehicles

The Services department, meanwhile, has issued an official memorandum to all the departments, autonomous bodies and boards in this regard and has asked them to ensure “optimal utilisation of this skilled workforce of drivers in DTC and avoid potential redundancies”.

A senior government official said that the DTC has started placing its drivers in other departments and promoted some to Assistant Traffic Inspectors (ATIs) in lieu of the regular direct recruitment/promotion quota, but the corporation is facing financial strain due to the rising salary burden.

The government official said the city will no longer procure CNG buses and all new additions will be electric. These buses are also being procured through a wet-lease model, under which drivers are supplied by concessionaires and the DTC deploys conductors.

“A significant number of DTC drivers are currently working in various departments, organisations and autonomous bodies on a diverted capacity basis. Salaries of these drivers are currently borne by the DTC from its internal resources and DTC has been facing substantial financial constraints due to escalating operational costs and limited revenue generation,” read the document.

To limit the financial burden on the DTC, it has been decided that all departments concerned will make immediate arrangements for the reimbursement of salaries of drivers, currently placed in different departments on diverse capacity, to DTC in consultation with their respective Integrated Financial Advisors (IFAs) and Finance Department, it said.

“As per the DTC’s operational plan, approximately 90% of its CNG bus fleet was scheduled to be phased out by October with the induction of electric buses on a wet lease basis, wherein the responsibility for providing drivers lies with the respective concessionaires… This policy shift will result in the availability of a substantial pool of regular drivers in the DTC,” said officials.

All the departments have been directed to engage drivers from the DTC pool against any current or future vacancy of drivers.

“The DTC shall assess the availability of suitable drivers within its pool and provide the NOC or otherwise,” the Services department said.

Further, the DTC has been directed to appoint a nodal officer to facilitate NOC or other clarifications, if needed. The transport commissioner has been asked to review the process of hiring of drivers by other departments.

A senior Transport department official said they are ensuring that no drivers are left unemployed. The department is working on a policy to deploy contractual drivers under the concessionaires engaged by the DTC and the DIMTS under the wet model, said officials.

“The concessionaires also deploys drivers on a contract basis. So, under this policy, we are ensuring that they hire our contractual drivers. The payment will be made to them through DTC…,” the official added.

The CNG buses were procured by the Shiela Dixit-led government during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Most of these have been phased out.

The DTC has a total of 4,800 buses, including 660 small and 2,000 large electric buses.