NEW DELHI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A Metro rail service in India has offered accommodation to its 23 transgender staff after they failed to find a rented place.
The southern Indian state of Kerala recently hired the 23 transgender employees to work for the Metro service in the city of Kochi, but as many as nine of them have resigned over difficulty in getting a house on rent.
"We have now decided to provide hostel accommodation to the transgender staff. We want the staff who have resigned to reconsider their decision now that the housing problem has been resolved," a spokesperson for the Metro service told the media.
The Kochi Metro's move came after a video featuring all 23, in which they told people "not to pity them," went viral on social media.
In a move aimed at fighting discrimination, the Kochi Metro became the first in the country to appointed transgender people as ticket agents and cleaning staff.
"We would like to give members of the transgender community their rightful share in different jobs at stations. There will be no discrimination between them and women workers," Elias George, the chief of Kochi Metro, said.
"The Metro agency is the first government-owned company in India to formally appoint them. I hope other firms in Kerala give them a respectable opportunity to work," he added.
