The Capital’s roads will now have more women drivers on the steering wheel of Delhi Transport Service buses. To make that a reality, the Transport Department has started its free one-month training programme for women to enable them to get a Heavy Motor Vehicle licence.

The 30-day training of the first batch of 40 women, which is underway at the Department’s drivers training institute located in Burari was inaugurated by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.

According to officials another 150 women drivers will soon follow and training will be imparted to them in five batches.

The criteria for the women drivers have been revised and now no prior experience is required to apply for the driver’s job while the minimum height has been reduced from 159 cm to 153 cm.

Minimum one-month training followed by a test is the only mandatory condition.

Talking to Indian Express, one of the trainees, Pinki who is 24 said: “I could not study after Class 12 due to financial constraints. So, I joined a cab service and learnt driving. I still work there…I wanted to become a bus driver but the training fee at Burari was expensive… When I found out that the government is providing training for free, I applied.”

Learning how to drive a bus at the Burari centre entails an expense between Rs.15,000 to 20,000.

Another trainee Preetha, who is a cab driver, exuding happiness about the training remarked: “My parents were against my profession and said it wasn’t suitable for a woman… but I didn’t relent. I am the only woman cab driver in my colony… Now, my parents feel proud that their daughter is going to drive a bus… I will also complete my graduation this year. I don’t want people to say that bus drivers are uneducated…”

The initiative is a joint venture between the Delhi Government and Ashok Leyland to facilitate end-to-end training to 180 women candidates while the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited has signed an MoU with the Society for Driving Training Institute to implement this programme.

Incidentally, Venkadarath Saritha, who hails from Telangana, was the first woman to be enrolled as a DTC bus driver in April 2015 at the age of 30, following which more were unable to follow because of stringent conditions.

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