Delhi govt to provide financial support to women who want to be taxi drivers: Transport dept

New Delhi: The Delhi government launched a scheme on Monday to provide financial support to women willing to take driver training to become professional taxi drivers in future.

As per decisions made by the government, 50% of the training i.e., nearly Rs 4,800 for each woman would be borne by the Transport Department. The training will be conducted at in-house driving training centres set up by the government at Burari, Loni and Sarai Kale Khan. The scheme is aimed at providing employment opportunities for women in the public transportation sector.

Various women through different forums have come out and spoke about their interest and zeal to work as taxi drivers to earn their livelihood.

As per 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.

The Transport Department will soon issue an advertisement and public notice seeking Expression of Interest (EoI) from fleet owners and aggregators for the scheme and gauge the number of women who can be trained under such an initiative.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot further stated, "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."