RPF launches project to ensure safety of women passengers at Delhi rly stations
new delhi: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has now started a pilot project with regards to women's safety at major railway stations in the national Capital. According to the official, a special focus has been given to women who travel alone in trains.
As per the official, they started the initiative on October 19 and a standard operating procedure (SOP) has also been formed for this. They are focusing on trains that arrive at odd hours and from where crimes are usually reported.
As per the RPF, they started the project named Meri Saheli in New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Sarai Rohilla, Old Delhi railway stations. "The project is in its initial phase. We are identifying women or girls commuting alone and taking their PNR numbers. To avoid any kind of information leak, RPF personnel have been briefed not to ask their details including phone number at the time of interaction."
The PNR number and other details are then sent to RPF posts at different stations from where the train will cross. The RPF personnel are briefed to check whether the woman commuter is travelling comfortably or not. A team of young women sub-inspectors and constables has been formed for this project.
"The team will collect only train number, coach number, seat numbers of the women and convey it to the Divisional Security Control Room (DSCR) of the originating division. The originating division DSCR will convey this information to the stopping stations with the RPF presence of its division. The DSCR of the concerned division will pass on the information collected to the DSCR of the next division. The process will be followed in the next division also till the destination arrives," the SOP read.
As per the SOP, "It is suggested that a list of trains to be covered may be prepared by the divisions and some trains, based on realistic assessment and feasibility may be picked randomly for a particular day. The staff en route will contact as many identified, unidentified women passengers as possible during the stoppages and ask about their well being."
According to one official, it will take some time to cover all stations and trains. The RPF said they have sufficient manpower and are trying their best to cover important trains. According to RPF data, from October 20, around 68 trains were checked, in which 320 female passengers were found travelling alone.
Inspector-General (RPF), SN Pandey said they are directly reaching out to women commuters. The RPF expects this move will instill confidence among women commuters. As per the official, staff members have been told that the observation has to be unobtrusive during the night and the privacy of women passengers must be respected at all costs.
