MUMBAI, May 23: After three years of reeling under severe staff crunch, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has got a breather from the State government.The Transport Ministry today gave the necessary clearances to the corporation to recruit personnel to suit their requirements. This step will help the corporation fulfil their long-standing ambition to employ women as conductors on their buses besides other demands.For the last three years, the government had imposed a blanket ban on recruitment in all government organisations, including the MSRTC. This had posed several problems for the corporation which was unable to pursue any of its developmental projects, officials said.It had also affected the quality of services offered by the corporation which had earned a bad name for itself in the past few years, they affirmed.Senior officials of the MSRTC when spoken to criticised the policy adopted by the earlier government. By imposing a ban on recruitment, it had virtually made the corporation powerless, an official said, requesting anonymity. Officials at the personnel department of the corporation said the lifting of the recruitment ban would help the corporation streamline functioning in different departments.Elaborating, they said the endeavour of the corporation to promote women in operational departments would finally take shape in the coming months. The corporation had earlier announced the employment of women as conductors and traffic controllers on buses and bus depots. However, due to the ban, even advertisements inviting applications could not be published, an official remarked. Officials were optimistic about the response the move would generate once the advertisements were released.The MSRTC will initially recruit woman conductors on routes like Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nashik. As traffic controllers, they will manage an entire bus station.
