Two from Ghaziabad among UP’s first batch of 21 women drivers of UPSRTC

Priyanka Kumari and Ved Kumari are among the first batch of 21 women drivers recruited by the state-run UPSRTC to steer its long distance buses, officials said

Thirty-year-old Priyanka Kumari drove trucks and other heavy commercial vehicles for five years to distant cities in Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and even to the north-east. She is now among Uttar Pradesh’s first batch of 21 women drivers who will drive buses of the UP state road transport corporation (UPSRTC).

Hailing from Bhagalpur in Bihar and currently residing in Loni, Priyanka Kumari (above) has been deployed at Kaushambi depot in Ghaziabad. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Hailing from Bhagalpur in Bihar and currently residing in Loni, Priyanka Kumari has been deployed at Kaushambi depot in Ghaziabad, while the second driver of the batch, Ved Kumari, 34, has been deployed at the Loni depot. Officials of the UPSRTC said the two drivers from Ghaziabad are among the first batch of women drivers in the state and were recruited in a government drive in 2020.

“When the vacancy came, I applied and joined. My experience in driving heavy vehicles proved a bonus. Still, it was not a choice but a compulsion to earn a living after my husband died five years ago that made me opt for this profession. The responsibility to raise my two minor sons is on my shoulders. I took up loans in between but I ended up selling my house as well. However, my new job has given me a glimmer of hope,” Priyanka Kumari said.

She said she took up comprehensive training with UPSRTC’s training centre in Kanpur in 2021.

“My training period was of three months because I was already familiar with heavy vehicles. Others in our batch took up six months of training in Kanpur. Now, I am ready to drive buses and would like to initially start with ”Pink Line’ (UPSRTC’s women-only AC buses to Lucknow)” services. However, driving at night or day makes no difference to me. While driving trucks, I faced many adverse conditions but that prepared me for my role with UPSRTC,” she said.

Her colleague Ved Kumari hails from Bulandshahr and presently resides in Mahindra Enclave in Shastri Nagar in Ghaziabad. She said her inclination to join as a bus driver came naturally as her husband and family supported her.

She also had an experience of driving light commercial vehicles.

“My husband is a conductor with UPSRTC and he is deployed at the Loni depot. He urged me to take up the new job and my in-laws also supported me. I already have a licence and the experience of driving light commercial vehicles and that helped me a lot during the recruitment drive and training in Kanpur,” Ved Kumari said.

She said the joining and training process also had several hiccups, including many financial constraints that resulted due to her husband’s illness.

“My daughter was only one-and-half years old and I had to leave her with my in-laws. It was a painful thing to do but I had no other option. Even my 15-year-old son displayed a lot of maturity when I had to leave him alone as well. He even prepared food, readied his school uniform and hardly let any of his worries reach me. This is all a result of my family’s support -- they firmly believe that women can perform a challenging job like this,” Ved Kumari said.

The UPSRTC officials said the two women are presently undergoing on-the-job training at Kaushambi and Loni depots.

“They are Ghaziabad’s first two women drivers with UPSRTC. A total of 21 women drivers have taken up their training in Kanpur and it is a major initiative of this government. All 21 have been deployed at different UPSRTC depots across the state and two have been deployed in Ghaziabad. During earlier recruitments, only men applied. However, this time, women also applied and 21 applicants were selected,” said AK Singh, regional manager of UPSRTC.

He said the two women will now get acquainted with technical and maintenance aspects of UPSRTC buses at the two respective depots.

“Within a couple of months, they will be deputed to work as co-drivers for some time and later they will be driving buses on their own to long distance destinations up to Pokhara in Nepal,” Singh said.