Lucknow metro rail corporation MD kumar keshav with female drivers along with other staff.
Meet Pooja and Priyanka, the two women loco pilots who gave Union Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath their first ride on the Lucknow Metro as the two ministers flagged off Phase I of the Lucknow Metro this morning.
The two pilots are among 19 other women loco pilots who have been recruited by Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) to pilot the metro trains. For the 97 train operator's posts that were available, as many as 3827 women had applied for the job.
This was not the first time that the Lucknow Metro was piloted by women, a similar thing was seen in December last year during the initial trial run of the metro. Two women loco pilots, Pratibha and Pravhi were the first to ride the train. The two women were later rewarded with Rani Laxmi Bai Bravery Award by the then Samajwadi government for being the first train operators during the trial run of LMRC.
According to sources, Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had insisted that LMRC officials try and give women a fair share of job opportunities in the Lucknow Metro Project.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik accompanied Mr Singh and Mr Adityanath for the inauguration. Ahead of their first ride they had purchased Go Smart card to board the train.
Metro services will be open to the public from Wednesday. The highest fare, between the two terminal stations will be Rs. 30. For now, the Lucknow Metro connects the Charbagh railway station to Transport Nagar. It would eventually stretch to the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, which would be two stations away.
(With inputs from IANS)