BENGALURU: To ensure a safe train journey for women passengers, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has recently launched a major safety operation backed by extensive analysis of data on crime-prone trains and railway stations across the South Western Railway Zone.
The coaches and berth numbers of all women passengers on trains are being collected daily from the commercial department after the travel chart is readied. Police are deployed specifically in coaches where there are a large number of women or the potential for crime is high based on past events.
‘Operation Shakti’, launched on May 20, is currently under way at Bengaluru, Hubballi as well as Mysuru Divisions of the Zone, a senior RPF official told The New Indian Express. Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (Bengaluru City), Yesvanthpur, Bengaluru Cantonment, Hindupur, Tumukuru, Bangapet and Yelahanka railway stations in Bengaluru now have Shakti teams of four or five men and women carrying out these operations.
In addition to that, the escort RPF teams on trains are now being deployed strategically on specific trains after a detailed analysis of trains where crimes have taken place.
“A pilot project was carried out in Hubballi and the feedback from women passengers was very positive. Hence, we decided to launch it across the SWR Zone,” the official said.
The ‘Operation Shakti’ teams reach out to women and give them instructions on phone numbers and officials to be contacted in case of any problems en route.
“On May 27 and May 28, a total of 1145 women passengers out of 1742 women travelling from the Bengaluru Division were being spoken to in person by RPF cops, In Mysuru, we contacted 669 women passengers out of 1,113, while in Hubballi, 269 women passengers out of 1,215 were contacted,” another official said.
SMS ‘BLAST’
Beginning, this weekend, women passengers starting from any station in Bengaluru Division will get SMS alerts before their journey from the RPF about their helpline 182 and the officials to be contacted en route in case of any problems . “We will collect the mobile numbers of women passengers from the Commercial Division and the SMS ‘blast’ (bulk smses) will be sent to all of them. It is bound to give women a sense of safety,” a top RPF official said.
