Bhubaneswar: The Odisha State Commission for Women ( OSCW) has directed the state transport department to issue necessary directives to ensure that women are not barred from boarding buses when they are the first passengers.
The move is aimed at doing away with the discriminatory superstition and ensuring dignity of the fairer sex. The OSCW issued the order after hearing a petition filed by Ghasiram Panda, a social worker from Sonepur.
In his petition, Panda alleged of discrimination faced by a woman who was prevented from boarding the bus at Baramunda bus stand in Bhubaneswar as a first passenger as it is considered to be a bad omen. It is a superstition that if the first passenger of a bus is a woman then it is unlucky for the vehicle.
The OSCW has ordered that now onwards no woman will ne prevented from boarding the bus if she is the first passenger. The commission has stated that the fairer sex can board the bus from anywhere in the state as first passengers.
The commission's directive will now be implemented in all government and private buses of the state. The commission has written a letter to the state transport department to do the needful. Now, the state transport department will inform the bus owners of all districts in this regard.
After witnessing several such incidents of women being disallowed from travelling as first passengers, Panda informed the OSCW through a letter on July 18, 2023. He sought the commission's intervention and appealed it to do break such discriminatory superstition. He questioned why women should not be accepted as first passengers in buses where photographs of goddesses Lakshmi, Durga and others are displayed inside.
The petitioner stated that conductors do not allow a woman to board on the ground that a man must enter the vehicle first. Otherwise, it would prove a bad omen and the bus may face an accident.
OSCW chairperson Minati Behera said that it is extremely necessary to eliminate such a superstition that has continued for years. Meanwhile, the Private Bus Owners' Association has expressed displeasure at the commission's directive to the department.
