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By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

Driving Change

Once trapped by poverty and abuse, Sufina found freedom behind the wheel — and now helps women travel safely across Delhi. The woman who once felt unsafe is now ensuring women travellers get home securely from Delhi’s airport, day or night. Among those providing this round-the-clock service is Sufina, a cab driver with the “Driven by Women for Women and Families” initiative. Sufina, who now offers peace of mind and safe journeys to female passengers, was once deeply troubled herself. But she...

Driving Change

Once trapped by poverty and abuse, Sufina found freedom behind the wheel — and now helps women travel safely across Delhi. The woman who once felt unsafe is now ensuring women travellers get home securely from Delhi’s airport, day or night. Among those providing this round-the-clock service is Sufina, a cab driver with the “Driven by Women for Women and Families” initiative. Sufina, who now offers peace of mind and safe journeys to female passengers, was once deeply troubled herself. But she refused to give up. Pulling herself out of hardship, she not only became self-reliant but also an inspiration for marginalised women in society. Partnering with the Sakha-Azaad Foundation, Sufina has scripted an extraordinary story. Sakha Consulting Wings launched this women-driven cab service for female passengers under the brand  Women with Wheels . All drivers, including Sufina, received training in driving and self-defence through the Azaad Foundation. Born Into Hardship Living in East Delhi’s Anand Vihar, Sufina was married to a daily wage labourer at just 16. By 18, she was a mother. Poverty was crushing; meals were often scarce. Desperate to escape this misery, she began searching for a way out. That was when she met a Sakha volunteer who suggested driver training. It became the turning point in her life. The road ahead, however, was anything but easy. Breaking Free Sufina was stepping into a male-dominated world, and it frightened her at first. Yet her hunger for financial independence gave her courage. In the early days, she faced strong opposition from both her husband and parents. Before leaving for work, her husband would beat her and lock her inside the room to stop her from attending training. But Sufina refused to surrender. Teaming up with her mother, she found a way out. After her husband left for work, her mother would unlock the door. Before he returned, Sufina would quietly slip back home to avoid more conflict. After completing her training, she worked as a private driver for nearly two years, continuing the same routine. As her earnings, confidence and independence grew, so did her assertiveness — and with it, her husband’s suspicion. One day, when he raised his hand again, Sufina fought back. She told him she would not tolerate it anymore. Shocked, he stopped. He never hit her again. Driving Change Sufina believes the turning point in her marriage came when her husband fell seriously ill. She admitted him to a private nursing home and paid for his treatment from her own savings. From then on, he began trusting her and valuing her work. Though the struggle had been painful, Sufina emerged stronger. She now asks a powerful question:  Why must a woman endure so much just to prove herself? Today, she is determined that her daughters should grow up with freedom and choice. In her community, she is respected and admired. Local girls and women see in her a path to self-reliance and dignity. The woman who once lived in fear now helps other women travel without it — and in doing so, she is driving change far beyond Delhi’s roads.

HSRPs can be fitted in society-sans extra fees

Mumbai: In a laudable move, the Maharashtra Transport Commissionerate has directed that the mandatory High Security Registration Plates for old vehicles can be fitted in housing society premises without levying extra charges.


The order was issued today (March 22) by Joint Transport Commissioner Shailesh Kamat today, extending the facility for group bookings and fitting of HSRPs at the venue of their choice.


The move is ostensibly due to poor response and low implementation of HSRPs in the state for multiple reasons, as the deadline of June 30 looms ahead.


Accordingly, Kamat has directed the local Regional Transport Officers (RTO) to hold discussions with associations/unions of trucks, buses, taxis or three-wheelers and exhort them to go for the HSRPs.


In places with 25 applications or more from two-wheelers, four-wheelers, autorickshaws, taxis, buses and trucks, the RTO should make arrangements through the authorized agency to fit the HSRPs without levying the ‘home fitment fees’.


The venues can be cooperative housing societies or the place of choice of theassociations/unions as per the convenience of their members, and would be applicable to vehicles registered prior to April 1, 2019, said Kamat.


The Commissionerate admitted that since Jan. 1, 2025, when the drive for HSRP kicked off in the state, the implementation has been ‘very poor’.


The government has appointed three (03) authorized agencies to complete the stupendous task through their fitment centres, adhering to a strict deadline.


However, in some districts, there are very few fitments centres and the public have complained of experiencing difficulties in securing appointments, including through the online process.


The state RTOs have been asked to review the situation in their respective jurisdictions and direct the fitment agencies to open additional fitments centres as required.


Discarding the red-tape, the Transport Commissioner has even authorized the local RTOs to grant approval to the fitment agencies for starting more fitment centres.


As per reports, of the total 1.15 crore vehicles registered in Maharashtra, nearly 10 lakh new vehicles (post-April 1, 2019) are plying without the HSRP, and barely a fraction of the old vehicles (pre-April 1, 2019) have either applied for or are fitted with HSRPs.

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