An initiative of the district panchayat, ‘Vanitha Transport’ is managed by Thrissur District Vanitha Transport Co-operative Society.

Thrissur :

As the state government is gearing up to recruit women drivers in KSRTC to enforce gender equality, a private bus in the district manned by women has been on the road since 1999.

An initiative of the district panchayat, ‘Vanitha Transport’ is managed by Thrissur District Vanitha Transport Co-operative Society. When it started, there were two buses operating on the Thrissur-Kodungallur and Thrissur-Thiruwilvamala route. Though one bus was cancelled, the other service is in full swing even though the society has financial issues. 

“It has been almost 20 years and we have never stopped the service. At present, our driver is on leave as she met with an accident while riding a two-wheeler and hence we have employed a male driver. But all these years, we had women as drivers, conductors and cleaners,” said K G Sathi, secretary of the society. The service begins from Thrissur at 7.38 am. “In the morning hours, we operate on the Kodungallur route while after 3 pm we ply on the Thiruwilvamala route,” she added.

They faced serious financial issues last year. But then District Collector T V Anupama intervened to rearrange the timings of the bus and got it approved. 

“Now, we get a five-minute halt in the north b there was no time for anything,” said Sathi. It was during C Raveendranath’s term as district convenor of People’s Planning Programme that such a project took shape. 

When the state government is all set to appoint women drivers ,  here are a bunch of ladies, including Thankamani, the conductor of Vanitha Transport, who are happy to be the pioneers in this field. “We were able to bring many women behind the wheel all these years. In some cases, girls were trained by our staff to get a driving licence,” said Sathi.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Gopika Varrier / Express News Service / August 22nd, 2019