Women toll operators brought in to keep tempers in check

The move is expected to reduce the number of arguments witnessed at the Kherki Dhaula toll plaza

Grappling with frequent altercations between motorists and male toll operators, Skylark Group — the company that operates the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway — has now deployed 10 women at the Kherki Dhaula toll plaza.

The first batch of women toll operators, who are from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, started work on Monday. Another batch is expected to reach Gurugram in two days.

Piyush, Project Head, Skylark Infra Engineering Private Limited, said the expressway concessionaire Millennium City Expressway Private Limited had been toying with the idea for a while before it finally tied up with Eagle Hunters Solutions Limited, which works under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana.

Empowering women

The women are allowed an hour-long lunch break and two 15-minute breaks.

Mr. Piyush admitted that arguments between motorists and male toll operators had become routine. “We expect the women toll operators to be more polite. We also expect the motorists to behave more decently,” he said, adding it was also a step towards empowering women.

The toll officials believe that the move would also help deal with the problem of poor retention of employees. At present, most toll operators are locals who do not stick around for long.

Mr. Piyush said that the female operators would be deployed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and would stay at the company’s guest house.

Purnima, one of the women operators, said that she had enjoyed her first day at work. “We underwent three months’ training in Varanasi and then another six days’ training at Gurugram,” she said.