NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways on Thursday launched 'Meri Saheli' initiative for focused action on security of women passengers across all zones.
An initiative of the Railways Protection Force, the strategy entails interaction with women passengers, especially those travelling alone, by a team of young women RPF personnel at the originating station, according to a statement by the national transporter.
These women passengers will then be briefed about all precautions to be taken during the journey and told to dial 182 in case they face or see any problem in the coach, it said.
The RPF team collects only the seat numbers of the ladies and conveys them to stoppages en-route, the statement said.
"The platform duty RPF personnel at the stopping stations en-route keep unobtrusive watch over the coaches concerned and berths and if need arises, interact with the women passengers," the statement added.
RPF/RPSF escort onboard also covers all the coaches/identified berths during its duty period.
"RPF teams at the destination collect the feedback from the identified lady passengers. The feedback is then analysed and corrective action, if any, is taken. If some distress call comes from a train covered under the 'Meri Saheli' initiative, the disposal of the call is monitored at the level of senior officers," the statement said.
The 'Meri Saheli' initiative was started as a pilot project in the South Eastern Railway in September 2020 and after getting positive response from women passengers, it was extended to all zones, it added.