Bhubaneswar: The state govt is planning to appoint women bus drivers in its public transport system, commerce and transport department secretary Usha Padhee said here on Wednesday.
During a ceremony in the city honouring 30 women drivers who completed training on driving heavy vehicles at a govt facility in Chhatia, Jajpur district, Padhee stated, “As part of women empowerment‘s measures, the govt plans to give opportunity to the trained women drivers in the proposed Mukhyamantri Bus Seva and Mo Bus service.”
Currently, women are driving e-rickshaws run by Capital Region Urban Transport in Bhubaneswar. Several women are also operating as conductors in Mo Buses.
The proposed Mukhyamantri Bus Seva represents an enhanced version of the LAccMI (Location Accessible Multimodal Initiative) bus scheme, which the previous govt introduced in Oct 2023. The BJP govt renamed the initiative and plans to implement it anew.