In a first, Balco hires 4 members from trangender community
Balco (Bharat Aluminum Company), in a first, on Friday inducted four members from the transgender community. The four — Bhawani Rathia, Asha Vishwakarma, Kanishka Sona and Roopa Kurre — will work as forklift operators with the PSU’s contractual company MS Gears India Limited.
When Bhawani Rathia left her parents house in Raigarh district last year after transition from male to female, against their wishes and knowledge, she didn’t know if she would find gainful employment. While living at Garima grih, a shelter house for trans-people, she learnt almost everything the home provided courses of, from cooking to spoken english and applied for jobs everywhere.
According to Vidya Rajput, member of state third gender welfare board and director of Chhattisgarh Mitwa Sankalp Samiti, this is their second batch of women who have got employment.
“Last year, 13 transgenders were inducted into Chhattisgarh police. When we recently got a call from Balco evincing interest, we were genuinely happy. Today, four of the community members have received their passes with much respect and felicitation, which is a big day for us,” she said.
Balco CEO Abhijit Pati congratulated the transgender community for ushering in a new social change and dispelling myths within the company.
“Any industry runs on skill and skills are not dependent on gender. Skills are cultivated by hard work and we at Balco are ready to include the till-now ignored third gender into our task force,” Pati said.
For Rathia, the job is just a beginning, but with a good start. “We were treated nicely and given a lot of respect, for which we have tremendous gratitude. I am glad to have a job with Balco,” she said.
