Background: Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation was formed in 1964 and had limited development, during the following ten years. Chakrapani was working as the chief mechanical engineer of RSRTC at that time. A decision was taken in 1975 to nationalize most of the major bus routes of the state, by inducting 1000 new busses in the fleet. 400 busses were to be supplied by Tata, 400 busses by Leyland and 200 busses from other brands. Looking to the enormity of the task, services of PR Subramanium, who was deeply involved with the development and running of Delhi Transport Undertaking, were requisitioned by RSRTC to work as Chief Mechanical Engineer, for the organization and implementation of expansion plans of RSRTC. Chakrapani and Subramanium worked on the project jointly and submitted their plans to Mohinder Singh, who happened to be the chairman of RSRTC at that time. One of the stumbling blocks in implementation of the plans, at one go, was the limited availability of qualified and experienced manpower. It was estimated that almost 10,000 persons, with different qualifications and experience shall be needed immediately, for smooth running of RSRTC for the induction of 1000 new busses in the existing fleet. Incidentally, Mohinder Singh had been the Education Commissioner in earlier years and with that association, he telephoned to me on 16 October 1975 to look into the problem and directed his chief engineers to get into touch with me. Soon after, PR Subramanium and Chakrapani got into touch with me and wanted time to meet me at Jodhpur. I told them, that, there was no need to come to Jodhpur, as I happen to be at Jaipur almost every week. Thereafter, we were able to meet at Jaipur on 22.10.1975. Discussions were short and lasted almost ten minutes. Subramanium was keen to lay hands on a large pool of technical manpower immediately and I was equally keen to see that the large number of unemployed graduate engineers, diploma holders and craftsmen from industrial training institutes got a reasonable opportunity to find suitable openings on challenging jobs.
Organisation of RSRTC: Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation had a central office at Jaipur and a central workshop at Ajmer. The proposal was to establish regional offices and regional workshops at Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota and Udaipur to serve as hubs and to establish a series of depots in almost all districts and prominent points on the routes. All that needed a good contingent of experienced persons, preferably automobile engineers and mechanical engineers to man the senior positions of responsibility in the central office at Jaipur and regional offices and regional workshops at Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota and Udaipur and depots scattered all over the state. To make the ball rolling, we provided to RSRTC a list of mechanical engineers working as principals, heads of departments and lecturers in government polytechnics of the state at Ajmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota, Alwar and Udaipur and provided a free hand to RSRTC to shortlist and interview our staff in accordance with their specific needs.. Thereafter, on the basis of selections by RSRTC, we placed 29 working members of the staff of polytechnics on deputation with RSRTC. Thereafter, regular staff of RSRTC and polytechnic staff on deputation to RSRTC formed the nucleus for launching the expansion plans of RSRTC.
Available Manpower: There was wide spread unemployment in all categories of manpower at all levels in 1975. Director of Manpower of the state government was also the Deputy Secretary of Planning and was directly responsible to the Chief Secretary for the maintenance of all types of statistics for five year plans. He was maintaining registers of unemployed graduate engineers from engineering colleges and unemployed diploma holders from polytechnics and had a provision to pay a stipend of Rs 250 per month to the engineering graduates and Rs 150 per month to the engineering diploma holders. The lists of unemployed graduate engineers and diploma holders were gradually growing from year to year. Director of Manpower was a man of statistics and was happy to have all the numbers on his tips. He had no organization for training and placement of the unemployed people. We had the privilege of picking up young graduate engineers and diploma holders from the registers maintained in the secretariat by the director of manpower and to get them engaged on challenging jobs in RSRTC and had a sense of satisfaction, when the director of manpower told us that a stage has come, when de does not find any need to maintain the registers of unemployed graduate engineers and diploma holders in the secretariat.
Graduate Engineers: Rajasthan had three engineering colleges at that time. MBM Engineering College, of the faculty of engineering of Jodhpur University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani and Malaviya Regional Engineering College at Jaipur. We had prepared an integrated merit lists of students of the 1975 batch of these institutions and were already sponsoring them to different establishments of the state and outside the state. We provided the integrated merit list of 1975 batch of mechanical engineering graduates of these institutions as also the list of graduate engineers borne on the manpower register to RSRTC to enable them to interview these students at their convenience and to select suitable candidates. On the basis of these selections, 50 mechanical engineering graduates were inducted in the work force of RSRTC. In our talks with PR Subramanium, it was suggested that these graduates could be placed directly on jobs as assistant mechanical engineers in central office, regional offices and regional workshops and as depot managers. Initially, they were paid a stipend of Rs 400 per month and subsequently, they were absorbed in regular cadres of RSRTC. Since, the young graduates engineers were directly placed on jobs of responsibility, the process of learning and acclimatization was quick. In the meantime, we helped them in supplementing their working experience and qualifications, to suit the emerging needs of RSRTC.
Diploma Holders: Integrated merit lists of electrical and mechanical engineering diploma students of 1975 batch of Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Kota, Alwar and Udaipur Polytechnics were provided to RSRTC to enable them to interview the candidates in the campus of these polytechnics. The lists of unemployed diploma holders of electrical and mechanical engineering maintained by the Director of Man Power were also provided to RSRTC. On the basis of interviews and selections by RSRTC, 250 diploma holders in electrical and mechanical engineering were inducted in the work force of RSRTC. The diploma holders were placed on all types of supervisory jobs in central office, regional office, regional workshops and depots. Initially, the diploma holders were paid Rs 250 per month as stipend and were subsequently absorbed in the regular cadres of RSRTC. We provided all facilities to these diploma holders at government polytechnics of the state to upgrade their knowledge and skills for meeting the emerging working requirements of their jobs at RSRTC. With the induction of diploma holders the organizational and management framework of RSRTC seemed to be taking some shape.
Craftsmen: Skilled craftsmen form the backbone of all types of industrial undertakings. RSRTC was no exception. A large pool of skilled and semi-skilled workers was needed for the proficient running of a fleet of more than 1000 passenger busses and running and maintenance of central workshop, regional workshops and depots. Fourteen government industrial training institutes were functioning in the state at that time for training in different types of trades at Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Alwar, Bikaner, Ganganagar, Ratangarh, Pali, Khetri, Bilwara, Bharatpur, Sikar and Nagaur. RSRTC perhaps needed a large assortment of I.T.I. certificate holders of Motor Mechanic, Diesel Mechanic, Fitter, Electrician, Turner, Machinist, Welding and Carpentry trades for the multifarious tasks of maintenance and smooth running of their fleet of busses. We provided facilities to RSRTC to interview and trade test certificate holders of ITIs of 1975 batach and earlier batches at one or more industrial training institutes of the state. Based on such interviews and trade tests, RSRTC inducted about 1250 ITI certificate holders in the work force of RSRTC. All ITI certificate holders were placed as skilled and semi-skilled workmen and helpers in the depots, regional workshops, central workshop and central and regional offices of RSRTC. They were initially paid a stipend of Rs 150 per month and were subsequently, absorbed in regular cadres of RSRTC. Since, they were put on working jobs, they were able to adjust gradually, to the emerging requirements of RSRTC. We provided all facilities to these workmen to utilize the facilities available at the polytechnics and ITIs of the state for upgrading and honing their knowledge and skills.
Drivers, Conductors, Cleaners, Booking Clerks and other sundry jobs: With every bus running two shifts, drivers, conductors, cleaners, booking clerks and other supporting staff formed bulk of the manpower needed by RSRTC. These jobs were filled by RSRTC by selections through open advertisement. We were happy, that, the whole process went through in a period of about three to six months and RSRTC busses could be seen running merrily all over the state.