NBSTC student concession

TT, Cooch Behar, July 8: The North Bengal State Transport Corporation has sent a proposal to the state transport department to reintroduce concessions on tickets for students and monthly tickets for general commuters that had been discontinued about two decades ago.

The NBSTC chairman, Mihir Goswami, said after a board meeting today: "We have sent a proposal to the state transport department to reintroduce concessions on bus fares for school and college students that had been discontinued about 20 years.... The proposal also includes the resumption of monthly discounted tickets for general commuters that, too, had been discontinued during the Left Front regime."

The NBSTC is procuring 70 new buses to add to its existing fleet of 700. "Seven of them will be added to the fleet that plies in the Darjeeling hills from the plains. At present, about 25 buses run to the hills from the district headquarters in the plains as well as Siliguri. We are going to put up 39 buses that are lying as scrap on auction," the NBSTC chairman said.

The NBSTC chairman said a decision had been taken to regularise the recruitment of drivers and conductors on a contractual basis. "We are determined to make transparent the recruitment procedure. We have already put out a list of applicants for the posts of drivers and conductors and they will be called for interviews soon. We have augmented their monthly remuneration from Rs 8,000 a month to Rs 11,500 a month," Goswami said.

NBSTC sources said there were about 1,700 applicants for the posts of drivers and conductors. "The applicants are from all over the state. We are going to send out letters calling them for interviews at our respective offices in the districts," a source said.