DTC driving: V. Saritha to be appointed as the first woman driver

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) will soon be welcoming V. Saritha as the first woman driver. Of late she is on a training module.

Till date, DTC has 8544 men drivers with 4500 working on a contract. The public transporter has 243 female conductors but no woman driver.

Saritha hailed from Telangana and used to work as a chauffeur in Southi Delhi earlier. The welcoming step will lessen the gap of gender inequality.

Saritha has travelled in all parts of the city during her training module in last two weeks and she finds it difficult to drive in northeast Delhi as people flout rules a lot. Driving in Central and south Delhi is easy for her.

The driving instructor of Saritha, Parvesh Sharma is training a group of 40 drivers but feel that Saritha is the best among them.

She used to drive autos in Narayanpura, Nalgonda and a mini bus for college in Hyderabad.

She supports a tomboy look and people passing by could not recognise at once. Commenting on her look and being the first lady driver, she said in a statement, "My father raised me like a son and encouraged me to keep my hairs shorts and wear shirts and trousers. My father is happy with the fact that I will have the distinction of being the first female DTC driver in the country's capital. But my mother is quite apprehensive."

Driving in the city would be challenging for her according to Saritha as she explored the roads and the traffic etiquette of the people. She is already nervous about the heavy traffic, impatient drivers and rickshaws coming out of nowhere.