The contract of a Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) driver was terminated after a TikTok video featuring her dance inside a bus, went viral. The driver, Yogita Mane, was terminated on January 31.
Ms. Mane, one of the two woman drivers for NMMT Tejaswini special buses, had reportedly danced inside the bus during her rest period after reaching Ghansoli depot.
“After we learnt of the video, we suspended the contract. The video was created during duty hours, in uniform and inside the bus, which is not acceptable. It is unprofessional conduct and gives out the wrong message,” Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Annasaheb Misal said.
In the 18-second video, Ms. Mane is seen dancing to a Marathi folk song, ‘Aai babachi ladki mi gaura mala havay chikna navra’. The video is uploaded to an account under the name pritigawai43.
Meanwhile, Ms. Mane said, “The video was not made by me. Priti Gawai, a woman autorickshaw driver with whom we often chat during break time, had made the video and uploaded to her account. I had warned her before as well not to shoot my videos when I am in uniform, yet she did that. After this incident, she has deleted her TikTok account. None of the NMMT officers are ready to hear me out. I have been knocking on their doors, but no one pays attention. I am done begging before them. I am a woman driver of bus and am proud of my capability. I haven’t had a single accident in the last one year and my record is clean. I am sure I won’t be jobless for long.”
Ms. Mane had joined NMMT on contract basis last year when the Tejaswini buses were launched.
Meant to be women-only buses, the vehicles were to have women conductors and drivers, but received no response and ended up having only two female drivers, of which now one has been terminated.
The buses run only for women on seven routes during morning and evening peak hours, and are open for all during the rest of the day. They run between Thane, Ghansoli, Vashi, Nerul, Belapur and Kharghar.