Delhi government launches plan to aid future women professional drivers

New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): The Delhi government on Monday launched a scheme to provide financial support to women willing to take driver training to become professional taxi drivers in future, the official statement said.
As per the decision made by the Delhi government, 50 per cent of the training cost which is approximately around Rs 4,800 would be borne by the Transport Department for each woman.
The training of women will be conducted at in-house driving training centres set up by the government at Burari, Loni and Sarai Kale Khan.
Under the initiative, the government will invite fleet owners and aggregators to sponsor the remaining 50 per cent of the training cost for women seeking driving employment in these companies.
"It will work with fleet owners and aggregators to set up an optimal mechanism so that women trained through the initiative receive guaranteed jobs in these companies after completion of the training," read the statement.
The Transport Department will soon issue an advertisement or public notice seeking Expression of Interest (EoI) from fleet owners or aggregators for the scheme and gauge the number of women who can be trained under such an initiative.
The scheme is aimed at providing employment opportunities for women in the public transportation sector.
"Various women through different forums have come out and spoken about their interest and zeal to work as taxi drivers to earn their livelihood," it added.
In addition, Delhi has made swift progress with respect to the adoption of electric vehicles under its compressive Electric Vehicle Policy 2020.
Delhi Government is also in the process of adopting the Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme which mandates phase-wise adoption and increases in the share of electric vehicles within the fleet of cab aggregators.
"The increase in the share of electric vehicles in taxi fleets will enhance opportunities for women to be employed as drivers as, due to fewer mechanical parts and automatic steering wheels, electric vehicles are much easier to drive and less strenuous in operation," it said.
Delhi Government had relaxed the norms and eligibility criteria to recruit more women as drivers within its bus operations.
It reduced the minimum height criteria from 159cm to 153cm and experience criteria for induction as bus drivers to one month for women applicants.
The step increased opportunities for women's employment within the combined fleet strength of approximately 7300 buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation DTC and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System.
The move also opened the door for women to be employed within the 15,000-strong workforce of bus drivers within the state public transportation.
In April, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot also kicked off 'Mission Parivartan', an initiative to train women to obtain their Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) licenses at Society for Driving Training Institute (SDTI), Burari.
Gahlot said in a statement, ''In the last couple of months we have implemented multiple initiatives to increase participation of women in the transportation workforce. The objective is that women come forward and become an important anchor of Delhi's public transportation."
"We have now inducted women as bus drivers within DTC. With the implementation of this initiative, the day is not far when a large number of women would be visible as drivers for various public modes of transportation on Delhi's roads," he said. (ANI)