Five women maintain buses in Karnataka

Bellary, Mar 20 (UNI) Five women in this district of Karnataka have managed to storm into a male bastion -- the mechanical section of the first stage bus depot of the North Eastern Road Transportation Corporation here.

After successfully completing their ITI courses, the women, V R Sharada, T G Ragini, Pushpalatha, Sridevi and Jois Sebastian, have been appointed helpers to mechanics.

The enterprising women also independently remove bus tyres, grease parts, besides helping their seniors in repairing and maintaining buses.

The foray into the mechanical section fetched the women a salary of about Rs 5,000 per month. While three of them were married, Sharada was doing her second year MA in Sociology.

RTC Divisional Controller R C Mallikarjunaiah hailed the women as being prompt and effective in their work.

The RTC had provided them a separate rest room and toilet, apart from aprons, shoes and a washing allowance of Rs 400. They work from 0800 hrs to 1700 hrs with an hour's lunch break and were not deployed on night shifts.

UNI XR GD VJ RAI0036