In a First, Balco Hires 4 Transgender Persons in Chhattisgarh

In an unprecedented move, Bharat Aluminum Company or Balco inducted four members from the transgender community into its workforce on Friday. Bhawani Rathia, Asha Vishwakarma, Kanishka Sona and Roopa Kurre will now work as forklift operators with the PSU’s contractual company MS Gears India Limited, the Kracktivism reported.

Bhawani Rathia, a transwoman, left her parents’ house in Raigarh district last year after transitioning against their wishes and knowledge. She lived at Garima Grih, a shelter house for transpersons, where she took nearly all the courses the home provided, from cooking to spoken English and applied for jobs in many places, according to the report.

Rathia told Kracktivism that the job was only a beginning but a good one. “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.

According to Vidya Rajput, member of the state's third gender welfare board and director of Chhattisgarh Mitwa Sankalp Samiti, this is their second batch of women to gain 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 was quoted as saying by Kracktivism. 

Balco CEO Abhijit Pati congratulated the transgender community for ushering in a 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 according to the media report.