A proposal has been made to specially allocate funds in the form of subsidies for women drivers to train at Delhi Government’s Burari Driving Training Institute in the upcoming budget 2022-23
Under the visionary leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi government is committed to provide more employment opportunities to women, increase their participation in workforce, including government agencies– Kailash Gahlot
We have not only relaxed the eligibility criteria, but we will also ensure that women are provided free training in our Burari driving training institute. We have proposed the same in our upcoming budget – Kailash Gahlot
Minimum height required reduced from 159cm to 153cm and ‘experience criteria’ reduced to one month for women applicants
The step will increase opportunity for women employment within combined fleet strength of 6900 buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS)
The move will open door for women to be employed within 15000 strong workforce of bus drivers within the state public transportation
New Delhi:
The Kejriwal Government in a major decision relaxed the norms for women drivers to apply as bus drivers within its Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) operations. With an objective to provide more employment opportunities for women, increase their participation in the public transportation and driving workforce, the minimum height for women to apply as a bus driver has been reduced from 159cm to 153 cm.
In addition, the experience criteria after the issuance of the Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) license have been reduced to one month from three years in the past. The government would provide hands-on on road training to women drivers during the one-month period on its non-occupied buses. After completion of the mandatory one-month training, women will have to go through a round of testing to be inducted as bus drivers within the public transportation fleet. In another move, the Delhi Government has also proposed to provide free one month training in its Burari Drivers Training Institute to women drivers who want to earn Heavy Motor Vehicle License (HMV). A proposal has been made in the upcoming budget 2022-23 to provide full fee waiver to women through dedicated subsidy.
Delhi government has always been committed to provide more employment opportunities to women and increase their participation in the workforce. The height criteria had remained a long-standing pain point for young women who wanted to be employed as bus drivers within the state transport services. Addressing this impediment, the Transport Department had already reduced the minimum height criteria to 159cm in December 2020 after representations were made by various stakeholders. Earlier in 2021 also, the Delhi government had reserved 33% of 4261 new e-auto registrations specially for women drivers. Transport Minister Shri Kailash Gahlot had constituted a special committee of experts to deliberate on the issue and suggest the optimal criteria which can work in the favor of women.
It was felt that there was a need to further reduce the minimum height criteria in line with global standards and bring it down to 153cm to enable more women to apply as bus drivers. Under the guidance of the Transport Department, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) proactively invited 12 women drivers and HMV license holders to test for bus driving in its facility, 10 of which successfully passed the test.
An NGO, Azad Foundation which has been promoting women employment by training them to become professional drivers suggested that there is demand and willingness in women to become bus drivers in the state public transport services and the decision may result into at least 15-20 women being inducted to bus driving operations every year. In 2019, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) had made a similar relaxation in its recruitment norms by reducing the minimum age requirement to 153cm which resulted in 163 women starting their bus driving training with MSRTC. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) waived the requirement of three years HMV license experience which resulted into selection of 19 women candidates for bus operations in 2021.
Transport Minister Shri Kailash Gahlot further stated “Under the visionary leadership of CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi government is committed to provide more employment opportunities to women and increase their participation in various facets of life. With the decisions taken by the government, more women will be encouraged to join our transportation workforce and provide impetus to our mission of ensuring a safe, accessible, smart and sustainable transport to all citizens of Delhi. Through our past initiatives such as increased CCTV surveillance, panic buttons, bus marshals, free travel for women and live tracking, we have ensured a safe and women friendly transportation ecosystem to Delhiites. With more women joining as bus drivers, these efforts will be further strengthened. With our holistic initiative, we have ensured that women are incentivized enough at each stage to take optimal benefit of this opportunity.”