Gurgaon taxi, auto drivers learn English for foreign guests

The Gurgaon administration is teaching English to its taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers so that they can easily converse with the sportsmen and other foreign tourists expected at the Commonwealth Games this October.

Thousands of foreign sportsmen and tourists will throng the national capital region (NCR) in October for the Games.

The training is being provided by Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) here.

HIPA will train around 3,500 taxi drivers and 8,000 auto rickshaw drivers before the Games. The training is already on and each participating driver is being given Rs.200 per day.

These drivers would be our ambassadors, as foreign guests would have to deal with them as soon as they reach Delhi airport. This exercise will ensure courteous and friendly behaviour of auto and taxi drivers with the foreigners coming here, HIPA director Rajni Shekhri Sibbal said Saturday.

We are imparting training in speaking English, stress management, first aid and the methods of practising yoga while sitting in the vehicle. The drivers would be provided four, three and two stars as per their performance during the training.

After the successful completion of training, name, contact number and vehicle number of the drivers would be made available on the websites of our tourism ministry, Delhi Police and HIPA, so that anybody can contact them with ease.