Women safety in Delhi: Govt mandates gender sensitisation training for public sector drivers

As per an order issued by the Delhi government's Transport department, gender sensitisation training is now mandatory for public sector vehicles including cab and auto drivers.

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Delhi government has mandated gender sensitisation training for all public service vehicles (PSV), including auto-rickshaws and cabs. This step has been taken to facilitate women safety. To enforce this rule, government officials said that any fitness certificates would not be issued until the driver undergoes gender sensitisation training.

The course was mandatory earlier, but it has been streamlined with some changes, said Navlendra Kumar Singh, the Delhi government's Transport department joint commissioner. Drivers of auto-rickshaws and commercial light motor vehicles needed to obtain a certificate of gender sensitisation programme.

The Manas Foundation conducts these gender sensitisation programmes associated with the Institutes of Driving and Traffic Research (IDTR) at Sarai Kale Khan and Loni and the Driver Training Institute (DTI), Transport Authority, Burari. As per the recent decision, all public service vehicle (PSV) drivers must enrol in the programme to obtain a valid certificate.

As per the order, it needs to be produced at the time of the fitness test of the vehicle. The training programme will be free of cost and valid for two years. "The Vehicle Inspection Unit, Burari will ensure that no certificate of fitness is granted to any PSV vehicle without submission of requisite (gender sensitisation training) certificate by the driver of the vehicle with immediate effect," stated the order.

The Vehicle Inspection Unit in Burari will also prepare a module to ensure that a gender sensitisation training certificate is not used to obtain a fitness certificate for more than one vehicle.

Authentication of the motor vehicle inspectors would not be required for the gender sensitisation certificate produced by the drivers or permit holders. The order specifically mentions that the certificate should not be older than seven days on the fitness test day.

With inputs from PTI