Bhubaneswar: Muni Tigga, who has been a freight train driver with East Coast Railway (ECoR) for the last 14 years, will be one of those participating in the ‘Women in Transport Sector’ tableau that will be rolling down along Mahatma Gandhi Marg in Bhubaneswar on the occasion of the country’s 77th Republic Day on Monday.
The tableau has been put together by the Commerce and Transport department of Odisha government for the R-Day celebration, as reported by the New Indian Express.
Muni (41) is among a small pool of women loco pilots in ECoR, and her story is one of sheer grit.
ECoR has 7,498 train drivers, comprising loco pilots and assistant loco pilots. Of them, only 161 are women, translating to just 2.1%. Thirty-five female drivers serve as loco pilots while 126 are assistant loco pilots. Muni is among the 30 women loco pilots who belong to Odisha.
Muni’s story is that of a trailblazer, having worked as a labourer to pay for her studies to becoming one among a handful of women loco pilots from the state.
She hails from Sundargarh’s Hatibari village in Nuagaon block, and fought poverty early in life. Belonging to a family of farmers, Muni topped her batch in 2002 while studying in Kumjharia girl’s high school. Struggling with finances and basic needs of seven children, her father was unable to pay for her higher studies.
Though disheartened, she started to assist her father in farming in their small field. With ends not meeting, she began working as a labourer in a private factory about 13 km to 14 km away from her house.
“My mother would wake me up at 2 am every day so that I can leave for work on a bicycle an hour later,” she said. She would cycle all the way to work on poor roads and return in the evening.
Muni visited her elder sister in Rourkela in 2004. During her stay, she noticed one of her school friends was studying in a college there. She then decided to get back to academics and took admission in the Plus II science at Sushilavati Government Women’s College in Rourkela.
She could not clear the final examinations two years later though and her aspiration to pursue education was shattered. Muni wanted to return to her village but a group of students preparing for competitive examinations encouraged her to try for railway jobs.
She got enrolled into the government ITI college in Bargarh in 2006. After passing out, she appeared for railway examinations in different zones.
Muni was finally successful and joined the railways as an assistant loco pilot in November 2011. She was promoted as a loco pilot in 2016. Married in 2013, she and her husband now have a son and daughter.
“Providing education to my children is a top priority and I would love to witness both of them emerge as independent individuals,” Muni, who now drives a goods train from Palasa in Andhra Pradesh to Khurda, said.
“Every woman should pursue her dreams and not bow down to societal influences,” she added.
