The state government has decided to recruit over 450 drivers and 350 conductors to address the shortage of personnel to run government buses.

These recruitments will be contractual and the candidates will be paid a consolidated amount after their selection through an external agency, said senior officials in the transport department.

The move to augment the strength comes four days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the transport department for the unavailability of state buses on Calcutta’s roads. She termed the department a “silent department” while addressing a review meeting at Nabanna on Thursday.

Within days of the coordination meeting, the finance department cleared the proposal that had been put on the back burner for years. Senior officials of the transport department said a tender would be floated shortly, inviting agencies to recruit bus drivers and conductors.

Apart from possessing the mandatory licences, the candidates would have to clear certain criteria, they said.

“The drivers and conductors will be recruited for the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) and subsequently, placed with different state bus corporations that run buses in Calcutta and its adjoining areas,” a senior official said.

“A majority will be recruited for the West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) that runs most of the state buses in Calcutta.”

The proposal to recruit bus drivers and conductors for state buses was floated in 2019 after officials realised that the majority of the existing ones — who are permanent staff — were in their mid-50s and nearing retirement. Most of them found it challenging to be at the wheel late at night on buses, some of which were old and prone to constant snags.

“During the pandemic, the proposal was shelved on an austerity drive and wasn’t revived. This meant there were no recruitments for the last five years when many drivers and conductors were superannuated,” the official said. “We have been telling the finance department that even if the state government procures new buses, there won’t be adequate personnel to run them.”

Once the additional personnel is available, the timings of buses leaving depots in the afternoon could be tweaked to ensure they don’t return to garages by 9.30pm, the official said.

The night shift now starts around 1.30pm and is over by 9.30pm when hundreds of commuters wait at bus stops across the city for state buses.

At a meeting chaired by the chief secretary on Monday, it was decided that the state would purchase 200 CNG buses at an estimated cost of around ₹120 crore. A bulk of these new buses would ply on routes covering the city and its adjoining areas.