V Saritha is in total control as she manoeuvres around tight turns, smoothly slams brakes to avoid an unruly e-rickshaw and deftly side-steps a competing car whose driver gives her a menacing stare as he overtakes her.
The first woman bus driver — V Saritha, of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) hit the road on Friday after a function organised at Delhi Secretariat in which the city transport minister Gopal Rai inducted her. V Saritha belongs to Telangana and is the second woman bus driver of her family after her sister who drives a private bus in her home state.
“It’s a major step towards women empowerment in the national Capital. We have short-listed one more woman to impart training as a bus driver. The government is committed to promote more and more women to come in this field,” said Gopal Rai.
Rai also lauded the efforts of the transport department and DTC for taking the bold step to open the door for women bus drivers and providing them training for it.
Saritha is the youngest among five sisters and migrated to Delhi around five years back.
“I belong to a very poor family. I used to drive auto in my home state to earn livelihood and support my family. I came here around five years back and started driving private taxis. Then I saw an opportunity in this as this ensures a government job for me,” said Saritha.
After completing her training successfully, she has been currently posted at Sarojini Nagar Depot and will be put on day-time duty at a route in the central part of the city. Since a PSV badge is mandatory for driving the bus, she was provided all possible help by the DTC authorities for obtaining the badge from the transport department.
Interestingly, the second woman bus driver who has been selected for training also belongs to Nalgonda district of Telangana. According to officers, in the second batch of women drivers, they received seven applications out of which five women were found eligible but only one woman candidate — Vankadarath Saritha, was found medically fit for training.
“Saritha already has the required driving license and she will soon go for four weeks training at the DTC training school,” added Rai. He also directed the DTC officers to encourage more women to adopt the job of bus drivers.