After providing training to the workers of the transport sector, the state government is now focussing on regularising the conductors of private and minibuses in West Bengal. The state transport department is now emphasising on issuing licences to conductors to streamline the sector.
The department has issued a notification declaring that only conductors with a licence would be allowed to continue their work in stage carriages. One of the crucial points stated in the notification is the qualification of the conductors. According to the norms set in the notification, an applicant of conductor’s licence would have to furnish his qualification documents. The applicants would have to submit their self-declared undertaking regarding their educational qualification in the prescribed format while applying for the licence. The conductors would, however, have to provide supporting documents within six months of the issuance of the licence. As stated in the notification, those failing to submit their documents might have their licence cancelled. In addition, the licensing official has been instructed to assure the reading and writing abilities of the applicants before approving the licence.
An applicant is to shell out Rs 140 while applying for the conductor’s licence. According to sources, there are about 35,000 conductors in the state. After the notification is issued, the department aims to complete licensing of the conductors in the next six months.
Notably, the department has started the training programme of the workers of motor vehicle garages under the ‘Utkarsh Bangla’ scheme. It is also working on plans to include employees of motor vehicle garages in the ‘Free Social Security Scheme.’ So far, around 4.13 lakh transport workers are said to have been registered in the “West Bengal Transport Workers Social Security Scheme” under the management of the labour department.
The private and minibus operators have welcomed the move. According to the operators, the process would enable regularisation of the conductors and the sector as a whole. The initiative is also being anticipated to help the conductors avail social security schemes.