Goa’s Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) has selected Pooja Vaingankar as its first woman heavy-vehicle bus driver, ending a 46-year gap in women’s representation behind the wheel of the state-run public transport corporation. She is expected to join after completing medical formalities and other recruitment procedures.
Vaingankar, 32, already has experience driving goods vehicles on interstate routes. Her background includes operating trucks between Goa and Belgaum, experience that KTC managing director Rohan Khaskar said helped her stand out during the selection process.
“It feels very exciting to know that I have been selected,” Vaingankar told The Times of India. She said she had long been interested in vehicles and had moved from driving cars to working as a goods carrier driver after learning to drive from a person she considers her guru.
Vaingankar said the opportunity also represented a path towards self-reliance. She applied after KTC opened vacancies and was shortlisted following the corporation’s selection process. Khaskar said her technical handling of a heavy vehicle was assessed before she was selected.
“Unlike someone learning to handle a heavy vehicle for the first time, she has been driving trucks for several years,” Khaskar said. He added that her experience in long-distance heavy-vehicle operations could be valuable as she shifts to passenger transport.
KTC has not yet finalised the route on which Vaingankar will be deployed. Officials said the corporation may consider a route convenient for her because she is based in Bicholim. Options under consideration include a regular daytime shuttle or services towards Margao, depending on the route she is comfortable operating.
Her appointment is part of a larger recruitment intake by KTC. The corporation is completing medical tests for approximately 250 conductors and 100 drivers, with the new recruits expected to join from the following week. Vaingankar’s first day driving a KTC passenger bus will take place after the ongoing medical and recruitment formalities are completed.
The appointment also extends a gradual increase in women’s participation across KTC’s workforce. The corporation currently has nearly 40 women conductors and four newly recruited women traffic controllers, according to the report. Vaingankar’s selection places a woman in a driving role that has remained largely male-dominated since KTC was established in 1980.
The immediate operational milestone is the completion of the recruitment and medical process, followed by the finalisation of Vaingankar’s route and her induction into passenger-bus services.