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Why Eight Transgender Employees Have Quit Working For The Kochi Metro Within One Week

There's one basic reason behind the sad decision.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Kochi Metro project recently made headlines for hiring 23 transgender people as part of the staff ahead of the launch of the new train service. But now, eight of the transgender employees quit their jobs within one week.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, one of the major reasons for this is the lack of proper accommodation.

One of the employees at Kochi Metro, who is currently working as a ticket collector at Edapally station and drawing a salary of ₹15,000 a month, told HT:

"Right now I am staying in a lodge where the daily rent is ₹600. If the situation continues like this my rent will outweigh my returns. How can I sustain like this?"

Vijaya Raja Mallika, a transgender activist told Firstpost:

"The KMRL gesture will not help the transgender people unless the society changes its mindset... We approached some 700 people and 51 households, and all of them turned us away. They seemed to think that we were looking for space for prostitution."

Frustrated, the Kochi Metro employees have also written to the city mayor for help, but to no avail. Mayor Soumini Jain told HT that she was not aware of the problem, but would take it up with the metro to help find a solution.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.