Kolhapur: The Kolhapur Municipal Transport (KMT) is going to induct 50 new drivers in order to run the transport service at full capacity and bring down losses.At present,, many of the total of 110 buses cannot operate on the roads because of the inadequate number of drivers in service to drive the buses. The transport body faces an average loss of around Rs70,000 every day owing to some buses having to stay off the roads and being unable to plu. In order to ensure that the losses incurred by them are reduced and so that the passengers are provided with timely service, the decision to induct 50 new drivers into the KMT has been taken. According to the KMT officials, the applicants have already been tested for their driving skills and the applications of the qualified drivers have been passed on to civic chief Abhijeet Chaudhari for further scrutiny and a final decision on whom to appoint.A senior KMT official said, “At present, we have 168 permanent drivers and around 110 drivers on a temporary and contractual basis. Several of these drivers abstain from regular work and so we have taken the decision to terminate their contracts. The list of various such drivers who are abstaining from their work has been prepared. We need 220 drivers to provide the transport service in an efficient and effective manner. Several schedules of the buses, especially during the afternoon hours, are cancelled because of the non-availability of the drivers.”Already, the transport body is reeling under losses because of the expenses incurred to pay the salaries of its staff and also on the fuel required to run the buses every day. The KMT officials claim that although they may not manage to bring the transport service into a profit, they are sure that this move will help in reducing the losses that are being incurred. “There is also a dearth of skilled drivers and those having the necessary skills are in high demand in the private transport service sector. All the new 50 drivers that are to beinducted will be on a contractual basis. However, we will ensure that they are given a decent salary so that they can stay and work for a long time with the KMT. We have taken the decision to partly share the amount towards the provident fund of the drivers so that they are secured financially,” said the official.

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