1,058 candidates from additional list of 2019 recruitment drive to be employed as conductors, drivers: MSRTC

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A total of 1,058 candidates from the additional list under the Direct Service Recruitment 2019 will be recruited as drivers and conductors in the State Transport (ST) buses, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation President Bharat Gogawale said.

The corporation is in the process of appointing around 337 candidates on the waiting list of the same recruitment instead of the absent or ineligible candidates selected in the 2019 recruitment. Further, it has been decided to take action to induct all the remaining 721 candidates in the waiting list as per the requirement and vacancies.

The representatives of the candidates had presented a memorandum to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in this regard. Gogawale then directed the officials during a Board of Directors' meeting on October 1 to appoint the candidates immediately. "Accordingly, the process of giving appointments to the candidates is taking place on a fast pace and all of them have thanked Honourable Chief Minister Shri Eknath Shinde and President Bharat Gogawale," a press release issued by the corporation stated.

MSRTC earns profit of Rs 16.86 crore for first time in nine years

The Maharashtra State Transport Corporation (MSRTC), which was reeling under severe financial crises for the past five-six years, earned a profit of Rs 16.86 crore in August. This is for the first time after nine years that MSRTC had earned a profit.

In a press release issued by Abhijit Bhosale, the Public Relations Officer of MSRTC, 20 out of 31 departments earned profit last month.

The corporation's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Madhav Kusekar, congratulated all the employees on this occasion.

MSRTC was financially crippled for two years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the long-term strike of employees for six months. There were also concerns of the state-run corporation shutting down.

However, from May 2022 onwards, the state-run corporation began taking some steps to bring about changes.

One of the major challenges was to divert the reduced passenger load to MSRTC. For this purpose, the state government launched two schemes: free travel on all types of buses for citizens above 75 years of age and 50 percent concession on tickets for women passengers. These schemes led to a huge increase in the number of passengers on MSRTC buses, with an average of 54 lakh passengers travelling by the state-run buses every day, the release stated.