PMPML plagued by lack of skilled manpower

Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) not only faces the problem of not having good drivers but also lacks staff who can handle sophisticated machines at 10 maintenance depots across the city. Likewise, the small size depots and increasing number of thefts due to parking on the road is leading to high failure rates of buses.

Transport utility’s chief engineer Sunil Burse, who has time and again raised the issue of non-Industrial Training Institute (ITI) trained technicians at the depots, said the utility has still not taken any decision to rectify it. “We have good skilled workers, but a few of them are not from ITI and hence, face problems in operating sophisticated machines,’’ he said.

“Similarly, we also face shortage of staff at the maintenance depot. We need two persons to repair faults in a bus, but we don’t have the manpower and hence, it takes more time,’’ he said.

He also said that besides less manpower, space crunch is a major problem. “All our depots are small and can accommodate only 50 buses at a time. Our depots function round-the-clock but we have to perform in adverse conditions. A bus which has completed 7,00,00 km or is 10 years’ old must be scrapped. But we have a few old buses who are occupying space at the depots, which leads to space crunch and hampers maintenance of the existing fleet,’’ he said.

“As per earlier norms, a bus used to undergo maintenance after it completed a run of 36,000 km, but now the routes have been divided into long routes and city service. When a bus is used in city areas, it requires more maintenance as breaks are constantly used. Hence, we have decided to carry out maintenance of the buses after they complete a run of 18,000 km,’’ Burse said.