Bhopal: In a bid to empower women and help them to be self-reliant, the Madhya Pradesh Transport Department will provide free professional driving training to 300 females from July 15 at the headquarters of 11 regional transport offices (RTO) in the state.
Transport Commissioner (TC) Mukesh Jain said that the department had formulated a plan to equip women with driving skills as professional drivers, it would not only a step to empower women but also provide employment as per their qualification to become self-sufficient, the scheme will also be an important step to make Madhya Pradesh self-reliant.
"After getting a huge success of the pilot project, we have decided to carry forward the scheme in the other districts. A total of 300 women will be trained in association with the Polytechnic Colleges and ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) and the department will also help them to get employment," Transport Commissioner Jain told Millennium Post.
The transport department had launched this scheme in the Indore RTO office in January this year as a pilot project. Two hundred women had been trained as professional drivers for light motor vehicles in ITI Indore. After completing the training programme, all women drivers have got employment in campus placement.
State's minister for Transport, Govind Rajput had given instructions to implement this scheme in the other part of the state during a review meeting with transport officials in March month.
Apart from Indore, the RTO offices Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Rewa, Sagar, Khandwa, Dhar, Jhabua and Umaria would be covered under the first phase of the scheme, the TC added.
Jain informed that he instructed the transport officers that the benefits of this scheme should reach needy women and preferred to scheduled castes and tribes categories and Covid-19 affected applicants.
The training programme will be of about 200 hours in which both practicals and theory will be in the syllabus.
The TC further added that after getting the training, no formality would be required to get a driving license. The initiative would not only give an opportunity to women to become self-reliant but also get security to women passengers in public transport.