Pune: A woman banker in Maharashtra's Pune is breaking barriers after she left her banking job to take up the driving training by the Maharashtra Transport Corporation to drive the Corporation's buses. The Transport Corporation is training 17 women to take the steering wheel for the first time in the 72-year history of the 'Lal Pari' in Pune division.
The buses' popular name is due to the red colour of the bus exteriors. Six of these women have completed the first phase of training. Now, after completing the second phase of training, they will join the service by the end of March. You will also be amazed to hear the education of these female carriers. A woman driver has left her job as a bank manager and completed driving training because of her craze to drive Lalpari.
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Shital Shinde, a female driver, has decided to quit her job in Axis Bank and become a female driver. Shital Shinde, who is part of the training camp in Pune, started working as a manager in Axis Bank, Band Garden, Pune in 2014. But she had the fascination with Lalpari since childhood. And when the advertisement for female drivers came out in 2019, she quit her job as a manager and decided to become a female driver.
Sheetal, who had never ridden a four wheeler, had to work hard to learn to drive the bus. “At first I was afraid to even start the car. Because the family never allowed me to drive the four-wheeler out of fear. I was very happy when I got the steering wheel of this Lalpari. Today, after completing this one and a half year training, driving the Lalpari is a different kind of joy,” said Shital.
Other women like Sheetal are also highly educated. The opportunity provided by ST Corporation for women as ST drivers is considered as a matter of pride for Maharashtra women. But the recruitment under the scheme was affected due to Corona. The Transport Corporation is also changing its services with time.
New and modern buses are entering the fleet of the Corporation. The Corporation is also making strides towards providing comfortable travel services to the people. The Corporation conceptualised women bus drivers in 2018-19. The process of recruitment of women drivers was started in March 2019, which was later disrupted due to Covid. Today women are working shoulder to shoulder with men in every field with the Transport Corporation no exception.
