In a first, DTC to hire women drivers

NEW DELHI: For the first time in its history, Delhi Transport Corporation will hire women drivers, starting next month. As of now, there are no women bus drivers in the city as neither DTC nor the cluster buses, run by DIMTS, hire women for the job.

Debashree Mukherjee of DTC said, "We hope to start hiring women drivers soon. Since it's a job that requires some amount of technical skill, we will also train the women for six months before putting them on the job." Incidentally, while DTC hires women as conductors—it has 243 on its rolls, no state transport authority has women bus drivers.

To start with, DTC will prepare 10 women for the job for a period of six months at its training school and depots, and then they will have to qualify in a driving test conducted by DTC. "If they are successful, DTC will help them procure a commercial licence for heavy motor vehicles if they don't already have one," added Mukherjee. The state bus authority will also help these women get the public service vehicle badge from the transport department.

In order to encourage more women to apply for the job, Mukherjee said some relaxations in its hiring procedures have been approved by the DTC board. For instance, DTC rules state that a driver must have a licence to drive a heavy motor vehicle (HMV) and have three years experience driving a bus. However, these women need a commercial licence for light motor vehicles (LMV) only.

"We will train the women to drive a bus, and then help them get the heavy motor vehicle licence as well," Mukherjee said. DTC will relax its rule of three years of experience for the women. "If they pass our test, they can start driving the buses," said the DTC CMD. The state bus authority is also relaxing its age rule for women—instead of a cap of 35 years, the upper age limit has been kept at 40 years for women.

It is, however, sticking to its height rule—the minimum requirement being fixed at 160cm or 5.4feet. The women will be hired on contract and will be able to earn between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per month. During training, they will be paid a stipend. At present, there are 8,544 men on the rolls of DTC as drivers with another 4,474 engaged on contract. Drivers on Delhi Transport Corporation rolls earn an average of Rs 30,000 per month. An advertisement for hiring women bus drivers is expected to be out in December.