There is an increase of 33% women drivers in the last five years in Odisha. In 2017, 25,086 women had driving licences while the number increased to 33,666 in 2021.
In fact, in 2019 and 2020, the number of women driving licence holders was more than 36,000.
However, if compared with other States, the number is not very encouraging, said Joint Commissioner Transport, Road Safety, Sanjay Biswal on the eve of the International Women’s Day.
With an aim to empower women and make them self-reliant, the State Transport Department provides free professional driving training to women at the Government Driving Training School (DTS), Bhubaneswar and the HMV Driving Training Institute (DTI), Chhatia.
From 25 women trainees in 2016-17, DTS now has 90 women taking lessons to drive commercial vehicles.
The enrolment is steadily increasing at HMV DTI. Around 60 women have been trained in the last three to four years while a total of 16,727 have passed out since the institute’s inception.