Social welfare minister announces pink auto in Chennai for women safety

CHENNAI: In the assembly session held on Friday, the minister for the Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Geetha Jeevan announced that the government will provide a Rs 1 lakh grant to 200 women auto drivers and operate pink autos at a cost of two crore rupees.

The pink autos operated by women drivers will be functional in railway stations and bus stands in Chennai city limits.

Also, the special coloured autos will also have a helpline number and a GPS tracking system to ensure that women and children can travel safely and it can also be easily monitored by the police department.

Subsequently, the minister also announced that the policy for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans gender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and others (LGBTQIA+) community members will be released at the earliest.

Also, the minister announced that the annual family income ceiling as one of the eligibility criteria for availing welfare schemes implemented by the Social Welfare Department for women and girl children is to be increased from Rs 72,000 to Rs 1,20,000.

This annual income ceiling as the eligibility criteria will be effective for schemes including EVR Maniammaiyar Ninaivu marriage assistance scheme for daughters of poor widows and Sathiyavanimuthu Ammaiyar Ninaivu free supply of sewing machine scheme.

Additionally, under the differently-abled department, the amount of Rs 2,000 for assistance to differently-abled persons will be expanded to 5,081 persons with more than 40 percent of autism spectrum disorder with an allocation of Rs 12.20 crore.