VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Division of Railway Protection Force (RPF) will soon add around 50 policewomen under the Nirbhaya Scheme. The scheme has been introduced for women empowerment said South Central Railway (SCR) Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) P Srinivas on Thursday.
At present, the division has 17 women RPF staff. A total of 498 CCTVs will also be added to the existing 396, throughout the division under the scheme. “We have already procured the equipments and the installation of CCTVs will be done within two months,” Srinivas said.
CCTVs will also be installed inside the new coaches to be introduced, he added. “We have requested to appoint at least one female RPF officer in each train, who will go on rounds inside the coaches,” said Srinivas.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, Srinivas released details of women’s contribution to railways. “Currently Vijayawada Division has around 1,820 female staff making 10 per cent of the total staff, excluding outsourced employees. Of these, we have 20 loco pilots, 60 ticket collectors and 22 station masters. The Indian Railways is considered as one of the highest woman employer in the world with more than one lakh female employees working in all departments — from technical to house keeping,” he said.
He also stressed on the facilities — creche, separate waiting hall with feeding area, sanitary napkin vending machine, separate coaches in trains, free pass for girl students up to undergraduation — provided to female employees as well as to the female passengers.
He said the division has plans to introduce an exclusive woman squad to check passengers. An all-women crew inter-city train from Vijayawada to Gudur will be commenced within 10 days, he added. “We may also turn two more stations into all-women stations similar to the Ramavarapadu station. It has been one-and-half years the station is managed by all women staff and we have not received a single complaint so far,” said Srinivas.
About the anti-harassment at workplace cell, he informed that out of three cases that they received, one was compromised and in other two cases the accused were suspended and transferred respectively.
The division is organising various programmes on the occasion of International Women’s Day under the theme ‘Each for Equal’ to signify that collectively each one of us can help create a gender equal world.