NSDC to train heavy commercial vehicle drivers with Association of State Road Transport Undertakings

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has embarked upon an initiative to train heavy commercial vehicle drivers. On 24th of August, 2017, NSDC entered into a partnership with the Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) for training 20,000 drivers annually who operate heavy commercial vehicles. As per the MoU, ASTRU along with its member bodies will set up new as well as upgrade existing ‘Driver Training Institutes’ (DTIs) across India to train drivers for heavy commercial vehicles. ASTRU will also facilitate the member SRTUs ­to set up 70 Driver Training Institutes across the country.

Under the MoU signed today between NSDC and ASRTU, the training would be imparted under the Special Projects category of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), and will benefit unemployed youth and employees of member of SRTUs by skilling and upskilling them.

While exchanging the MoUs with ASRTU, Mr. Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC said, “We see a huge demand of trained professional drivers who are also skilled enough to operate modern day technologies like GPS. The drivers should be having relevant soft skills. Through this MoU, we aim to train drivers for heavy commercial vehicles thereby bridging the existing gap of requirement for the trained professionals in the sector.”

“Considering the growing rate of commercial vehicles population, there is an urgent need of both skilled drivers as well as the mechanical staff in addition to the existing strength. We are pleased to collaborate with NSDC to overcome the shortage of skilled manpower in the sector and creating new avenues of employment for them. With this agreement, we aim to train around 20, 000 candidates annually,” said Mr. P Anand Rao, ED – ASRTU. According to estimates, there is a 22 per cent shortage of drivers in the country today and it is going up with every passing month. Logistics companies estimate a requirement of a million truck drivers every year and shortage is likely to hit 50% by 2020.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship is one of its kind public-private-partnership with an objective to facilitate skill training in partnership with private training providers. Till date NSDC has approved 330+ training providers and 40 Sector Skill Council, with a geographical spread of 7000+ training centres in 600+ districts across the country. NSDC has trained nearly 1.17 crore people in more than 30 sectors.

(This article is based on a press release from NSDC)