- Meeting
Consultation with WCD, West Bengal for Gender-Responsive Livelihoods, Transport and Infrastructure
Azad and Sabar Institute held a consultation with West Bengal WCD to promote gender-responsive livelihoods, transport, and infrastructure, centering the voices of women, trans, and queer persons.
Azad, in collaboration with Sabar Institute, engaged with the Department of Women and Child Development (WCD), West Bengal, to push forward a gender-responsive agenda in livelihoods, transport, and infrastructure:
Meeting with Smt. Sanghamitra Ghosh, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development, West Bengal
On 11 Sep’2025, Mousumi Sarkar (State Lead, Kolkata, Azad Foundation), Sabir Ahamed (Convenor, Sabar Institute and Programme Director, Pratichi Institute) and 25 drivers and riders trained by Azad met with the Principal Secretary of Department of Women and Child Development, West Bengal. The meeting was also joined by eight senior officials, including IAS officers and the Protection Officer, Kolkata.
The drivers and riders voiced their lived realities and demands directly to the officials. They raised pressing issues such as lack of access to safe and clean public toilets, absence of community crèches, the need for free public transport for women, simplified Heavy Motor Vehicle (HMV) licensing and training processes, a separate Regional Transport Office (RTO) window for women, improved street lighting, access to mobile phones, and interest-free car loans to support their entry into non-traditional livelihoods and a life with dignity.
Azad and Sabar are closely engaging with WCD, West Bengal to take this discussion forward, with the shared aim of ensuring that women, trans, and queer persons can access livelihoods, public transport, and infrastructure, which are safe, inclusive, and dignified.
