In a welcome move, the highly successful Kudumbashree Mission, the women-oriented community-based project by the government has been awarded the contract for the management and maintenance of Kochi Metro Rail services.

The decision was taken in an evaluation meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan following which the Kochi Metro Rail Limited and the Kudumbashree Mission signed an MoU for the running of metro stations on Sunday.

Among the services that Kudumbashree workers will provide are ticket distribution, customer relations, parking management at stations, cleaning and gardening.

KT Jaleel, Minister for Local Self-Government, said that 300 Kudumbashree workers will be employed for Metro-related services. 

According to a report in The Hindu, the Kudumbashree Mission is considering taking over handling of cleaning and parking services for the Indian Railways. Women from the Mission are already engaged in these activities at the Ernakulam Junction railway station. The Mission is also keen on taking over services at institutions such as Cochin Port Trust and Cochin Shipyard.

The Kudumbashree programme took birth in 1998 in Kerala as a community-driven initiative that aimed at encouraging a woman to ‘save’ for the future. After nearly two decades of operation, Kudumbashree is considered a lifeline by countless women who have reaped its benefits to carve out an identity of their own in society.

Also read: The Kudumbashree story: How Kerala women's grassroots scheme grew into a multi-crore project