In a landmark decision, Kochi metro has taken an initiative towards extending employment opportunities among the local transgender community.
23 out of 530 workers will be from transgender community.They will be posted at 11 stations in Kochi metro’s Aluva-Palarivattom corridor .
A team of 530 workers selected out of 41000 candidates who appeared for written test and interview are all set for housekeeping, ticket vending customer relations, parking, gardening and to man the coach-depot canteen at Muttom etc .
Those with higher educational qualifications will be posted at ticket counters while the rest will get housekeeping duties at stations.
How the idea came about
It all started when local transsexuals clashed with those from outside Kerala, some of them complained about police high-handedness.
They had also complained to the police that they are forced into sex work as local society declines to give them job.
Elias George, KMRL’s MD said:
“We would like to give members of the transgender community their rightful share in different jobs at stations. There will be no discrimination between them and women workers,”
“The metro agency is the first government-owned company in India to formally appoint them. I hope other firms in Kerala give them a respectable opportunity to work.
Society’s mindset towards them will change only by direct interaction with them. Moreover, members of that community cannot at all be blamed since they are born with such a biological situation,” reported The Hindu
KMRL MD Elias George had also organized meetings with city police commissioner MP Dinesh on rehabilitating transgenders.