KOZHIKODE: Women venturing into driving heavy vehicles are rare, but Kudumbashree, with the help of the City Corporation, is hoping to change this and is offering heavy vehicle driving training for free and also preparing to get driving licences for women. In addition to this, as planned before, Kudumbashree will soon begin free driving classes for all those who want to use their own vehicles, and defeat the general notion of the public that ‘women are not good drivers’. The aim is also to promote more women as professional drivers for cabs or other such vehicles.
“It has to be noted that Kudumbahsree workers undertake all the major projects of the Corporation like waste management and other business ventures which requires the use of heavy vehicles”, said Ramsy Ismail, Kudumbashree project officer. A majority of women depend on men to use these vehicles. Hence we want these women to handle these vehicles on their own and move ahead with business ventures”, he added.
Initially the training programme will start on normal four-wheelers and in the second phase, the heavy vehicle training programme will begin. Financial support in the form of loans would be given if these women wished to buy vehicles through Cooperative banks, he added.
