New Delhi, May 3 (IANS): The capital's Transport Minister Gopal Rai has ordered the suspension of 20 DTC drivers after they were found to be absent from duty during a surprise inspection, a statement said on Sunday.

Rai inspected the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) depot at Rajghat and found that the regular drivers had not given any intimation to the authorities concerned of their absence from duty.

The DTC has a total 12,226 drivers on its rolls, of which 8,039 are regular and 4,187 are on contract.

"They were found to have caused inconvenience to the public by denying them the right to travel in public transport," a statement said.

The Rajghat depot has a fleet of 170 buses. At the time of inspection, the minister found that only 100 buses had left the depot while 57 of them were parked inside due to various reasons including non-availability of drivers.

According to the ministry, the DTC has a fleet of 4,705 buses and on an average 600 to 900 buses are not operated, particularly in the evening, due to lack of adequate operational staff, specifically drivers.