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| Pemala Bhutia on duty in a bus in Gangtok on Thursday. Picture by Prabin Khaling |
Gangtok, May 20: Two Sikkimese women have successfully completed seven months as conductors in government run buses here.
Of course, passengers still gawk when Pemala Bhutia and Jyoti Subba ask them to shell out the bus fares. One reason is probably because conductors here do not have uniforms and dress casually.
“They are stumped when I ask them for the bus fare. Only after some time, they realise I am the conductor and start paying. Sometimes even women passengers find it difficult to believe that we are conductors,” said 24-year-old Pemala while sharing her work experience.
Along with Jyoti, 26, Pemala received her appointment letter from the state government on October 13 last year. The two ladies were among the 10 bus conductors appointed at that time.
They were familiarised with the bus, routes and rates for a few days at the SNT (Sikkim Nationalised Transport) terminus in Gangtok. But it is more “on the job training”, meaning they are learning while working, an SNT official says.
Every day at 7.30am, Pemala takes the first SNT city runner for Gangtok from the terminus in Rumtek. The distance is 22km. The bus reaches the state capital around 8.30am. It then goes back to Rumtek again. Her passengers this time are mostly teachers and government employees. The SNT division falls under the state transport department.
After her second trip from Rumtek, Pemala takes a break of around two hours in Gangtok before starting again. In the afternoon, too, she makes two trips to Rumtek, where she stays with her husband, an IRB jawan.
By the time she reaches home after depositing the day’s collections, it is almost 6.30pm.
“I get tired as I have to stand on the bus when all the seats are occupied,” she said. “But I enjoy full support from my family and my husband.”
Sometimes, the lunch break gets cut down when the bus develops mechanical failures.
“We have realised that we cannot extend help like the male conductors to the driver when the bus develops mechanical failure or there is a puncture,” Pemala admits.
“No job is easy. This profession is challenging but I will not give it up as I have received good training from the department.”
One question that the two women frequently face is why they chose to become bus conductors.
“This is a government job and the government is paying me a handsome salary. No work is small,” pat came the reply from Pemala, a graduate from Sikkim Government College.
Both the women are regular government employees.
Pemala’s colleague Jyoti is also a graduate. She is a conductor for the SNT bus that travels daily from Gangtok to Jalipool, a distance of 20km. Jyoti is from Geyzing, West Sikkim. Her bus travels twice on the Gangtok-Jalipool route.
Jyoti, who lives with her father, reaches the SNT terminus in Gangtok on time for her first trip at 7am on another bus. The SNT is basking in the success of the women conductors.
“The state government has been encouraged to appoint more educated Sikkimese women to the post of bus conductors. The policy to empower women is well entrenched in the programmes of the state government. We are satisfied with the performance of these two ladies,” said SNT (operation) joint secretary Navin Chhetri.
“Pemala and Jyoti have become role models for Sikkimese women.”
He added that the department will give special preference to educated Sikkimese women while appointing bus conductors in the SNT division in the future.
Sikkim follows the 33 per cent job reservation for women though this is the first time that they implemented the quota in the bus conductors’ job.
“We want to appoint lady bus conductors on city buses which cover short distances from Gangtok — to places like Singtam, Ranka and Tintek,” said Chhetri. Currently, the department runs 22 city buses.