Mumbai: 45-year-old, Mumtaz M Kazi received the “Nari Shakti Puraskar” on International Women’s Day. President Pranab Mukherjee presented her the award. She is among the top seven women to get this honour from the President.
Breaking into a male bastion, Mumtaz M Kazi, began driving trains at the age of 20 to become Asia’s first woman diesel engine driver. She has been driving different types of trains for 25 years. Kazi drives suburban local trains on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Thane section, which is India’s most congested railway route now.
Being the member of an orthodox Muslim family, she faced opposition from her father, when she first applied for a railway job in 1989. However persuaded by his friends and family, her father gave in and let her follow her dream job.
Mumtaz Kazi is married to Maqsood Kazi, an electrical engineer of Nandurbar and has two children.
Mumtaz named appeared as first lady diesel locomotive driver in LIMCA Book of Records in 1995. She was also conferred with Railways General Manager Award in 2015.