Gurgaon administration mulling 'women only cabs'

With the aim to curb incidents of eve-teasing and crime against women, the Gurgaon district administration is planning to run 'women only' cabs in the industrial city that will be driven by women drivers.
The administration will help interested women to buy and run such cabs.
The Gurgaon district administration has asked the RUDSET (Rural Development and Self-Employment Training Institute) to identify such women or girls who are willing to run such cabs.
The project will be made functional by four agencies including district administration, RUDSET, Tata Motors and banks, an official release said today.
As per the proposal, after identification of women drivers, RUDSET will impart 21 days' training to them in soft skills and the venue of training as well as the trainer will be provided by the Tata Motors which have also promised to provide cabs converting its Nano car into the desired vans.

The Gurgaon district administration will help the trained women drivers in obtaining driving licence, getting the vehicle registered and asking the banks to release loans for purchasing these cabs or vans.

According to Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner T L Satya Prakash, the administration will ask MNCs and Call Centres to tie up with this cab service for pick-up and drop facilities of their women employees so that the women drivers can repay loans easily and contribute in enhancing family income.
"This will, on one hand, help generate employment avenues for the educated unemployed women and help in controlling the crime against women on the other," he said.

Prakash said this cab service will have full police support and also a dress code for women drivers. "It will also have a helpline, where in case of emergency the woman driver can contact and ask for help. With consensus, the women can coin a specialised name for their cab Service," said Prakash.
He said a number of MNCs and call centres are operating in Gurgaon where a large number of women employees work round-the-clock in different shifts.
"During odd hours, picking-up and dropping them safely is the employer's responsibility... If there is such a dedicated women cab service in operation, they can be called and the women workers dropped safely to their respective destinations," he added.