Maneka Gandhi moots the idea of women drivers for ladies

NEW DELHI: Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for women and child development, has mooted the idea of exclusively womendriven taxi services for women to improve their safety.

"As of now, this is the only solution I can think of for the safety of women commuters," the minister told ET on Sunday, reacting to the rape of a young woman professional in a Uber cab.

Gandhi said she had recommended radio taxis manned by women more than three months ago. "We offered to train the women drivers to cater especially to the female staff working late night shifts at BPOs," she said. The women and child development (WCD) ministry was looking for partners to start all women’s taxi services. "Something like this cannot be done by the government alone. We need people who can help in this initiative," Gandhi said, adding that her ministry had even made a short film on women taxi drivers, which was shown to collectors from all over the country.