New Delhi:
A day ahead of the second anniversary of the December 16 gangrape, Delhi Police today launched an initiative under which girls from underprivileged strata of the society will be trained in driving and self-defence with an aim to empower them both physically and financially.
Police will tie up with licenced radio taxi service providers like Meru, Easycabs and others who can employ these girls for their fleet.
The first such batch of 100 girls enrolled themselves with North district police here today. These girls will now be divided into various batches and will be called in morning, afternoon and evening as per their convenience and trained to drive cars and learn self defence.
"Some driving schools have volunteered to provide vehicles and trainers to these girls. Representatives of RWAs and public persons have also agreed to provide vehicles for this training. Women police officials who are proficient in driving cars will also teach after their duty hours in spare police vehicles," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma.
Police had contacted BPL and underprivileged families living in the area of each police station through the volunteers of the Parivartan scheme.
"The response to the scheme has been very good, parents brought their girls to get them enrolled into the scheme. We want to act as a link between taxi service providers and the girls.
"We are planning to rope the cab services at the preliminary stage itself so that if they want they can join us at the training stage itself. They can raise an all-women fleet and I am sure, there would be women customers in Delhi who would be ready to pay a little extra for a women-driven cab," said Verma.
This assumes significance in the aftermath of the recent Uber rape case where a young financial executive was allegedly raped by the driver of the cab she had hired on the night of December 5 to return from South Delhi's Vasant Vihar to her North Delhi home.
These girls will also be given self defence training by our woman constables who are black belt themselves. This would help them to cope up with any situation and also raise their confidence.
"We will only act as a platform and create a trained supply pool for the cab services. We will keep them motivated throughout the process, however lengthy it may be and ensure to ward off any discouragement which comes there way from the society," said Verma.
Some of these girls already have licences while those who don't have will have to apply for learning licence. Police will help them to expedite the process