Transport utility fails to attract trainee engineers

“This poor response might be a fallout of the poor stipend amount. Who would come and work on such petty stipends when these candidates could earn better at other places?” said a senior officer at PMPML.

It was only a few days back that the Board of Apprenticeship Training,Mumbai,had sent a list of probable candidates,giving the names and addresses of the candidates who may be willing to work as apprentices. But nobody turned up and the PMPML was forced to publish another advertisement. Now,the PMPML advertisement said the utility seeks eight candidates,who hold either a degree or a diploma in mechanical engineering. December 15 is the last date. for applying

“As per the government directions,every year we publish an advertisement for the trainees in order to give them hands-on experience,as our buses need repair work. But in the last couple of years,there was very poor response to our advertisements as engineering graduates or even diploma holders seem disinterested in working for us,” said Deepak Pardeshi,PMPML spokesperson.

“This time we were hopeful that the list of candidates generated by the Board of Apprenticeship Training will yield results. We sent letters to these candidates. However,not a single candidate replied or contacted us. We did not even get a response at any of the placement meets. Therefore,we decided to run the advertisement like in the past,” he added.

It is another matter that the utility is prepared to go through another year without any apprentices learning the trade at its workshop.