PNS | DEHRADUN
The Women Empowerment and Child Development (WECD) minister Rekha Arya announced that to empower the women of the State, the government will launch the Mahila Sarathi scheme on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Arya stated that she will be the first user of Mahila Sarathi. For the first week, drivers will provide free rides to women to raise public awareness about the initiative. This scheme prioritises support for financially weak women, as well as widows and those who have been deserted, she said.
She further added that the Transport department is conducting driving training for women and assisting them in obtaining their driving licenses. As a pilot project, this initiative will start with 10 e-scooters, two e-auto rickshaws, and two e-taxi cars. Arya said that she will initiate the scheme from the camp office located in Yamuna Colony and will personally travel to IRDT Hall in Survey Chowk using these vehicles. Following her arrival, a demonstration of all the vehicles will take place in the IRDT auditorium. The vehicles for the pilot project have been secured through the CSR funds of an organisation.
Arya said that after evaluating the results of the pilot project over the first six months, the scheme will be expanded to other cities in the state. A fully professional mobile app has been developed to operate these vehicles, which features a user interface similar to that of popular commercial vehicle booking apps. Arya highlighted that many safety features have been integrated into the vehicles for the protection of women drivers. GPS tracking will be implemented to ensure that either female drivers or passengers can receive immediate assistance in the event of any security-related issue. Both the police and transport departments are involved in this scheme. For the pilot project, driving training for women has already been conducted in Dehradun, she said.
