Very soon, women conductors in city buses

PMPML plans to recruit 563 women bus conductors; 30% reservation for women candidates in keeping with govt policy

Very soon, women conductors in city buses

PMPML plans to recruit 563 women bus conductors; 30% reservation for women candidates in keeping with govt policy

THE city buses will have a new addition shortly in the form of women bus conductors. The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has assured that it has made provisions to recruit women as conductors as a part of their new fleet, which will be operational from the end of this year. This recruitment is a result of a 30 per cent reservation for women, a first in the history of PMPML.

Satish Kulkarni, joint managing director, PMPML, said, "The recruitment process is as per the government policy of recruiting women candidates in reserved category. The city will probably have the maximum number of women conductors in the state."

Pratap Khopade, Administrative Officer, PMPML, said, "We are in the process of recruiting 253 woman bus conductors and have so far received over 1,500 applications. Working as a conductor is really a tough task. We are ensuring that these candidates fit the bill. The response for the posts of bus conductors and driver was phenomenal."

The three-month training for conductors will be rigorous and they will be given a free pass to travel and understand all the existing bus routes with the stages (bus stops). Their ability to calculate fast will be checked after three months.

In the interim period, they will be given a special training to calculate the fare. The women conductors will be seen in the next two months after the interviews will be conducted.u00a0

Presently, the 10 women conductors have been delegated the work of bus ticket bookings at various depots. "We will be giving them actual assignments on the city routes very soon," Khopade said.u00a0

Trupti Pathak, a PMPML conductor but presently working as a ticket booking clerk, said, "I have been assigned for a conductor's job. I am fine with working at any bus route. But it is really a risky job as the buses are crowded and many male customers are rough with women," she pointed out.