Four women turned up at the Bihar Veterinary College ground on Friday morning to learn the ropes of autorickshaw driving, lending hope to the dream of more girls taking on commercial driving.

Bihar State Autorickshaw Drivers’ Association started its free camp for training women in driving the three-wheelers on Patna roads. The Telegraph had reported on May 1 how the association was finding no takers for its training programme. It had planned to start the training from May 1 (Wednesday) but failed to. A day later, it received confirmation from four women out to prove to themselves they could match up to any work thrown at them.

Rajkumar Jha, general secretary, Bihar State Autorickshaw Drivers’ Association, said: “It was very unfortunate that we could not start the programme on May 1 because nobody confirmed their participation. Some newspapers highlighted our problem and we got confirmation from four women on Thursday. We decided to start the training as soon as possible. Good news has also started to come in, as more women contacted us today (Friday).”

Law students Kriti Jyotsna Sharma and Neha Sharma, NGO official Sudha Jha and student Neha Kumari are the first ones to take up the challenge and they couldn’t be more excited.

Kriti, a first-year LLB student at Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, said she wanted to learn to drive autorickshaws and take up commercial driving to add some quick buck to her monthly allowance from home.

“At present, I am dependent on my parents. I thought of enrolling in this training programme so that I could earn a few quick buck later by driving autorickshaws. Some people might consider this a menial work, but for me, no work is small. It is far better than dacoity and other illegal jobs,” she said.

The Bihar State Autorickshaw Drivers’ Association looks forward to get them work in prepaid autorickshaws and ensure their safety at the same time. Among the safety measures, only women passengers would be allowed to take these autorickshaws and men would be allowed only if they accompany the women.

Many residents might still cry out risky, no matter how many precautions one may take. But that does not deter 18-year-old Neha Kumari. The feisty girl expressed confidence to deal with any harasser if the need arose.

“I would take strict action against anybody who might try to harass me. We often have to face eve-teasing while commuting in autos but I would make sure none of that happens in my vehicle,” she said.

Her namesake — Neha Sharma, another law student, said driving commercial vehicles would be just another field where women would rub shoulders with their male counterparts.

The student of Bihar Institute of Law said: “Today, girls have even reached the moon. They have become astronauts, pilots, lawyers and even cops. There is not a single field where there is no female presence. In every field, you can find them working along their counterparts.”

Sudha Jha, the oldest among the lot at 35, said: “I chose to take part in this training programme not to set an example for others but to prove to myself that I can take up such challenging jobs. I have three children and I know they would be proud of me when I’ll take up commercial driving.”

The training programme will continue for at least a month.