She Cabs now run by male drivers!

Hyderabad: The She Cabs introduced with much fan fare in the city to provide social security for women are being driven by male drivers. Most of them have been given on outsourcing to government offices.

The concept of She Cabs was jointly introduced by Balala Hakkula Sangham (BHS) and the GHMC. The GHMC had purchased 100 vehicles each at a cost of Rs 5 lakh upon which Rs 1 lakh each was spent for additional expenses such as road tax, number plates, vehicle accessories, etc. And about 30 female pilots were hired but of them only 18 were partially trained in martial acts.

Talking to The Hans India, BHS president Anuradha Rao blamed the government for giving a wide publicity of She Cabs without their consent. She said that 30 female pilots were hired on the first day to publicise the cause but vehicles were not handed over to them.

Moreover, the GHMC has applied conditions like caste certificates, white ration card, deposit of Rs 50,000 down payment and to pay remaining amount through bank loan which was not even supported by the Women Finance Corporation as there was no coordination between the WFC and GHMC, she said.

She argued that there was no sense in asking these documents or certificates like ST/SC caste, minority and then asking them to pay such huge amount to join. This is nothing but to dilute the spirit of She Cabs concept. She questioned the municipal corporation to show those 100 vehicles which were purchased with public money.

She said that before going into the hands of the GHMC, the BHS has started this concept with only two vehicles and 8 female pilots in order to curb Nirbhaya and Abhaya-like cases.

She alleged that the government has created many hurdles to take forward the concept by applying technical conditions such as Yellow number Plates etc. Apart from insisting on dress code they were being frequently subjected to alcohol and other tests twice a month which is nothing but harassing female pilots, she said. She said the government did not provide any funds to establish training centres for she pilots.

She further said that during the short period when the She Cabs were run there were cases of hit and run resulting in damage to vehicles. The GHMC also did not set up any control point wherein the women passengers could dial a number or download an app and book the cabs.

Nagamani, a she pilot who worked for 3 months said many think that women should not drive. There have been instances where other cab drivers teased them saying first put on men’s clothes, have men’s hair style and then drive. This breaks the spirit of the female pilots, she added.

By Sindhura Dharmasanam