The grand proposal of the State government to launch the She Taxi scheme is yet to take off. The scheme became a non-starter with just ten applicants for which setting up of a separate monitoring system is not quite feasible.
Tenders were called a few months ago and 10 women drivers were sent for training to start the programme as part of a women-safety initiative in the city. “The government wanted to initiate the She Taxi scheme on its own, but due to the non-feasibility of the monitoring system, it could not be started for just ten persons,” mentioned an official from the Road Transport Authority (RTA), requesting anonymity.
The main reason for launching the She Taxi scheme by the government was to make public transportation safer for women by having women divers operating taxis. The scheme is jointly being chalked out by the RTA and Women Development and Child Welfare Department (WDCW).
Prior to this, the ten selected applicants were given a 10-day fresher training session on driving on city roads. As per the scheme, they will be given subsidies on cars that the State government will provide them, said the official. “The eligible candidates said that they prefer Maruti Swift to drive on city roads, as it is an easy car to maintain,” he added.
More than 50 women candidates applied out of which only ten were found eligible for the scheme. When contacted, RTA Commissioner Sandep Kumar Sultania said, “The She Taxi scheme is in the advanced stage of implementation,” and refused to give any more information on its progress.
