KOCHI: After scripting success in every field they embarked on, Kudumbashree is venturing into a new terrain. Members of the most successful women empowerment project will now work as conductors on the city's private buses - a most challenging job.
A meeting of the Students Travel Facility Committee chaired by district collector M. G. Rajamanickam on Tuesday took the landmark decision. The private bus owners have extended support to the initiative and promised better wages. The women will be put on the routes where the trips end by 8 pm.
Mr Rajamanickam instructed Tany Thomas, district coordinator of Kudumbashree Mission, to initially identify 100 women and to provide them with necessary training. "The decision is to avoid the regular quarrel between bus workers and passengers, especially students," he said.
Regional transport officer K.M. Shaji said they would get licences after successful completion of the training. Those with SSLC qualification can approach the Kudumbashree district office for further details. It has also been decided to put stickers with important phone numbers on all buses and conductors will get training in good manners.
Students will be provided with a handbook on road safety. Though the bus owners claimed they were installing CCTV cameras, the RTO asked them to submit visuals they captured to the motor vehicle department for verification to address complaints effectively. Meanwhile, the collector issued a strict warning against cancellation of trips for no sufficient reasons. Representatives of student's and bus owners' unions attended the meeting.
