After the introduction of the Pink Police Force, it is learnt that the state government will soon start pink rickshaws exclusively for women. Currently, 17 women are reportedly learning auto-rickshaw driving and they will soon hit the road. This is a step in the right direction towards women empowerment. If women can drive buses, fly private planes and even fighter jets there is no reason why they should not be trained to drive a simple auto-rickshaw. It may be recalled that Shila Dawre got featured in the Limca Book of Records for being the first female auto-rickshaw driver of India. In 1988, she drove from Prabhani district in Maharashtra to Pune in a rickshaw in what is considered a male-dominated profession. The woman has reportedly driven everything from a rickshaw to a mini-truck and today owns a travel company. Start of the pink auto-rickshaws in Goa will be a boon for the ladies who have to travel from their work-place, which is not very far off, after dusk. Of course now many women do ride scooters. However the pink auto-rickshaw will be a boon for elderly women and those who cannot ride a scooter. It remains to be seen whether the pink auto-rickshaw service will consist of vehicles fully painted in pink colour. It would be desirable to have only the hood of the rickshaw in pink colour which in a normal rickshaw is yellow in colour. After introducing pink three-wheeler rickshaws, in future Goa could even have pink four-wheeler taxis.
