Bhubaneswar: In a bid to break a discriminatory superstition, Odisha’s State Transport Authority (STA) Friday asked all the Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) to take action against bus owners who deny women as the first passenger in their vehicles.
The STA in a letter to all the RTOs said: “… to check state carriages regularly and whenever it was detected that the owner/ conductor of the state carriage deny women as the first passenger to enter into bus, e-challan may be drawn against the owner of the said vehicle under section 192A of MV ACT, 1988 and report compliance.”
The STA further said that the owner/conductor of the state carriage cannot deny any woman as the first passenger to enter into buses. Any deviation shall amount to a violation of permit conditions and is punishable under section 192A of the MV Act, 1988.
The transport department’s action came in the wake of the Odisha State Commission for Women (OSCW) letter to it in this regard.
The Women’s Commission has asked the Transport department to pass orders that women should be allowed to board buses even when they were the first passengers.
The OSCW’s order came after it disposed of a petition which alleged that bus staffers in Odisha prevent women passengers from boarding the vehicle first, considering it to be a bad omen.
The commission observed that the irrational and discriminatory practise stemmed from the superstition that if a woman becomes the first passenger, the bus may meet with an accident or do bad business for the day.
Social worker Ghasiram Panda from Sonepur filed a petition with the women’s commission, citing an instance of a woman passenger being allegedly prevented from boarding a bus as the first passenger at Baramunda bus stand in Bhubaneswar.
The commission, in a letter to Transport Commissioner cum Chairman State Transport Authority Amitabh Thakur on July 26, said, “These type of incidents have come to our knowledge in the past also. So, in order to avoid future inconveniences to women passengers and to protect their safety and dignity, I would like to request you to ensure that buses (both government and private) allow women as the first passenger. An early action with intimation to OSCW is solicited.”
The commission also suggested that the transport department reserve 50 per cent of the seats for women passengers.
“The transport department will ask bus owners to sensitise their staff. It is wrong to discriminate against women on the bus. They should get first preference,” the official said.
Debendra Sahu, secretary of the Odisha Private Bus Owners Association, said, “We consider women as a form of Goddess Laxmi and Kali. Women represent Mother God. Therefore, there should be no discrimination in this regard.”
PTI