Odisha: Heavy vehicle driving a big draw among women in Jajpur district

BHUBANESWAR: Suprabha Jena and Subhadarshini Jena broke gender inequality and sat on the driver seats of heavy vehicles. Not just the two sisters, but many like them have been turning up at the government-run heavy motor vehicle (HMV) driver training institute at Chhatia in Jajpur district to accelerate their economic empowerment.
The institutes authorities said the enrolment of women is steadily increasing.At least 60 women have been trained on HMV driving in the last three to four years. A joint venture between state government and Ashok Leyland, the institute sponsors 30 days of residential HMV driving training for people of the state. The institute has been operational on 44 acre of land since March 2013.
Annually over 5,000 people are trained at the institute. Food, accommodation and driving licence are provided free to the trainees. Besides, each trainee gets Rs 3,000 stipend or wage loss compensation after end of the 30-day training. Most of the trainees land a job by end of the training.
“I had the penchant for driving a bus. When I decided to learn the driving skills, my friends and relatives frowned at me and said driving is basically a manly job. But my family supported me. Seeing my interest, my elder sister also joined me to learn driving,” said Suprabha.
At present, five women are learning the driving skills at the institute. “We have been receiving encouragement from the institute authorities. They have confidence in us,” Subhadarshini said.
The institute provides livelihood and job placement support to the trainee drivers. While around 10,400 people have so far been trained in the last eight years, over 1,000 have got the job of driver in Odisha police, Central forces and other government departments.