Bhubaneswar: Dipti Mahapatro, General Manager (P&A) of Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT)-Bhubaneswar received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award 2022 at Balikesir, Turkey on Monday.
Dipti was presented the award at a function organised by the Government of Turkey and UN–Habitat. She was selected for the award for her innovative leadership in turning a failing public- private transport service into inclusive, accessible, cleaner and safer urban mass rapid transit system with transformative impacts especially regarding opportunities provided for women to participate and lead active lives in the city.
Speaking on receiving the award, Dipti said, “It’s overwhelming to win the award and I would like to thank Odisha Government and my entire team for their support in making socially inclusive and gender sensitive reforms in the public transport system of the state a reality. Recognitions like these motivate us to come up with new innovations to better serve the society and with a few years remaining to achieve the SDGs, it’s time for catalysing our actions and not just advocating.”
The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award is one of the prestigious human settlement awards in the world. It aims to acknowledge initiatives which have made outstanding contributions that have led to developing and improving human settlements and the quality of urban life to leave no one behind. It is given for outstanding contributions towards development of human settlements by individuals, organisations and successful projects.
Earlier this year, Dipti won the International Award as Electric Women in Transport 2022. CRUT is actively promoting the usage of the E–Vehicles through its recently launched E–Buses and E–Rickshaws as a step towards a green future.
CRUT’s comprehensive gender inclusive policies on recruitment of crew, affordable fare structure, integration of smart technologies, sustainable design of depot infrastructure and regular training and capacity building initiatives have been able to create a highly inclusive and sustainable mobility ecosystem in the region.
