Nine months after the Delhi Transport Corporation first requisitioned hiring of more drivers through the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board in January, it is still severely short of bus drivers. To address the crisis, the DTC has now decided to relax norms for hiring drivers.

The idea, officials said, is to “broaden the base of those who can apply” for the job. The official said, “As per our rules, a driver must have a public service vehicle badge issued from Delhi to work here. But now, drivers can get this badge issued from any state and can still apply for a job with us.”

Besides this badge, a bus driver needs a heavy vehicle licence for a period of five years to qualify for the job in Delhi. The DTC has relaxed this norm, too: drivers now need such licence for a period of three years, making them eligible much sooner.

Incidentally, DTC's earlier recruitment drive had also relaxed recruitment norms -- while rules say minimum qualification for drivers is Class XII, the Corporation had in January hired even Class X passouts.

But the agency was unable to fill up its vacancies even after the let-up. Thus, officials say it is well nigh impossible for DTC to help acquire drivers for Blueline buses. “DTC had vacancies for 2,485 drivers when we placed the first advertisement this January,” a senior DTC official said. But Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB), responsible for recruitments, “managed to procure only 261 drivers — barely 10 per cent of our requirement”.

Faced with the crisis, officials said DTC initially looked at hiring drivers from other states, especially, southern states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But post-request, it learnt that even these states face a shortage of bus drivers, the official said.

Officials, meanwhile, said relaxing norms would not lead to dangerous driving. “Irrespective of norms, drivers will have to go through the mandatory skills-test carried out by the Transport department,” the DTC official said. “They will also be placed on a year's probation before they are confirmed.”

And, in another change of norms, the DTC would circumvent the recruiting agency DSSSB this time round; it would, instead, issue fresh advertisements itself next week.