Allow ‘ladies first’ while boarding buses: OSCW

Bhubaneswar: Putting an end to superstition, Odisha State Commission for Women (OSCW) has asked the Transport department to pass orders stating that women should be allowed to board buses even when they were the first passengers.

The OSCW's order came after it disposed of a petition which alleged that bus staffers in Odisha prevent women passengers from boarding the vehicle first, considering it to be a bad omen.

The commission observed that the irrational and discriminatory practice stemmed from the superstition that if a woman becomes the first passenger, the bus may meet with an accident or do bad business for the day.

Social worker Ghasiram Panda from Sonepur filed a petition with the women's commission, citing an instance of a woman passenger being allegedly prevented from boarding a bus as the first passenger at Baramunda bus stand in Bhubaneswar.