New e-autos targeting women and tourists launched in Madurai

With the objective of ensuring safe travel for women, senior citizens and visiting tourists in Madurai, a new women e-auto programme was launched here on Thursday. Speaking at the launch function, Venkatesan Dhattatreyan, Regional Director, Union Ministry of Tourism, said a city like Madurai, with high heritage value, had ample scope for womenfolk to make their livelihood with decent earnings. By getting employed as an autorickshaw driver, the womenfolk could equip themselves with value-additions such as road safety training, soft skills, basic tourism knowledge and a responsible/professional conduct. This would definitely instil confidence in the customers. The governments had plenty of skill development programmes for womenfolk and the tourism industry was poised for bringing in more and more visitors to the country. Cholan Tours founder Pandian Kumaravel said they had launched the women e-auto driver programme in Madurai to create a meaningful travel experience. The initiative, he said, would provide women with e-autorickshaws and dignified job opportunity as professional drivers. The women drivers had been given structured training by experts from multiple departments. The idea was to give a new meaning to urban transportation which would give confidence to the people using the vehicles to explore new locations without fear. The e-autos were handed over to 13 women drivers at a function presided over by S. Vanitha, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), in the presence of Umadevi, District Tourism Officer, and G. Vasudevan, Director, Hotel Fortune Pandyan. The women auto drivers, expressing satisfaction, said they were aware of the challenges in the work and hoped to ensure a joyful ride, especially to domestic and international tourists visiting Madurai. People willing to take a ride on the e-auto should download the app in their mobile phones and record the information on pick up and drop details, Mr. Kumaravel said. Published - December 25, 2025 09:57 pm IST

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