Hyderabad: For all its blabber about women empowerment and providing employment avenues to them, the BRS government has not appointed a single woman driver in the TSRTC.
However, the 2024 International Women’s Day will be rejoiced and celebrated by many of them as the incumbent state government is finalising plans to appoint women drivers in the corporation.
The introduction of the Mahalakshmi scheme, whereby women can travel on RTC buses for free, has reportedly come as a huge financial relief to around 30 lakh women, who commute every day.
Even when it comes to hiring women conductors, the track-record of Telangana pales into insignificance compared to states like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra. It was the then N. Chandrababu Naidu government that had pioneered recruitment of women conductors. Presently there are 14,894 drivers and 17,614 conductors in TSRTC of which 4,322 are women conductors.
Mohammed Rahimuddin, a senior bus driver from Kushaiguda depot, said “as the government is adding to the fleet, bringing in women drivers will be a great initiative. I am sure that like women conductors, who are discharging their duties efficiently, even women drivers will do wonderfully well.”
