UP Government Training Women to Drive e-Rickshaws, Providing Loans As Well

Lucknow, March 15 (TNA) Courtesy the Uttar Pradesh government, women will take over the driving seat of e-auto rickshaws in the state soon. This is as they are being linked to self-employment through training, an official informed. The training program is being conducted by MSME and implemented by UPICON.

After roadway buses, now women of Uttar Pradesh are going to be seen in the driving seat of general public transport also. The Yogi government, which is engaged in the mission of making the women of the state self-reliant along with security, respect and self-reliance, is connecting women with self-employment oriented e-rickshaw training program under Mission Shakti.

Through this, the government is not only providing free e-rickshaw training to women but is also making arrangements to provide e-rickshaw along with driving licenses at affordable interest rates.

Not only this, a subsidy of up to Rs 50 thousand is also being provided on e-rickshaws. 250 women from each district are being trained. With this initiative of the government, now-trained women drivers will be seen driving high-quality e-rickshaws on the roads across the state. This will help in managing their income and also curb incidents like road accidents.

About 20 thousand women are being given training

UPICON MD Praveen Singh said that the e-rickshaw training program under the Mission Shakti scheme is being run by the MSME department and implemented by UPICON. Under this, the target is to train one thousand women from each district. Training has been organized in two parts under Mission Shakti. In the first phase, 6 days of training were given to 56200 women (750 per district). In this, training was given for three days on safety, security and self-defence related to women's workplace.

After this, he was given training in entrepreneurship development for three days. In Phase 2, e-rickshaw training is being given to 18750 women at the rate of 250 women per district. The duration of self-employment-oriented training in the driving domain is 6 months. Women are being selected for training under the guidelines of the Chief Minister Youth Self-Employment Scheme. In this, 10th pass women aged between 18 to 40 years are eligible. Also, they must have an Aadhaar and PAN card.

He said that this is a livelihood program. Under this, we have set a target of 250 women per district. The Chief Minister will select 250 women under the Youth Self-Employment Scheme and then orient them through e-rickshaw self-employment. After selection, women are given training. There is also classroom training in which they are being told about e-rickshaws and driving rules. After this, they are being taught to drive e-rickshaws practically.

Women are also being given pink dresses for e-rickshaws and safety kits and stationery kits are also being provided. After this, women are also being helped in getting a driving license with the help of RTO. Finally, we are also doing the process of taking them to the bank. In this, it is being ensured that women can get the benefits of the Mukhyamantri Yuva Self-Employment Scheme, which also includes easy loans from the bank.

Help is also being provided to start self-employment

Praveen Singh said that under the scheme, the standard cost of an e-rickshaw has been fixed at Rs 1.98 lakh. We have selected e Rickshaw companies through the GeM portal. These companies manufacture e-rickshaws with lithium ion batteries which are of the highest quality, he underlined. Women found eligible under the scheme of Rs 1.98 thousand will get a subsidy of Rs 49 thousand 500 under the Chief Minister Youth Self-Employment Scheme. Efforts will be made to finance the remaining money from a nationalized bank.

The program started in November 2023 and presently this program is running batch-wise, in which 250 women per district are being trained in one batch. In districts where the potential is high, the number can be increased.