NEW DELHI: A panel of parliamentarians has recommended a slew of measures including night police patrolling and dedicated bus or taxi service for the safety of women and children travelling in public transport. The 31-member standing committee on transport, tourism and culture has also urged the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to design and maintain highways with gender-sensitive infrastructure such as safe pedestrian crossings and waiting areas for women.
In its 361st report comprising recommendations tabled in both Houses of Parliament on Friday, the panel stated that the ministry should encourage community policing initiatives, where local residents and volunteers work together with law enforcement agencies to ensure safety of women travellers.
“In order to ensure the safety of women, police patrols must be increased on highways, especially during night hours. It must be ensured that female police officers are part of these patrols to make women travellers feel more secure. The ministry should promote and support women-centric transport services such as women-only buses or taxi services, especially during night-time hours,” read the report.
In its previous report, the committee noted that “a lot needs to be done” to improve the state of safety of women on public road transport including installation of proper signages, availability of mobile phone networks, street lights and highway patrolling.
The ministry had responded that its scheme ‘Development, customisation, deployment and management of state-wise vehicle-tracking platform’ includes setting up of monitoring centres to implement the vehicle-tracking system and ensure safe commute to women and children in public passenger transport vehicles. “This monitoring is also applicable to public service vehicles operating on national highways,” the ministry’s response stated. The reply is part of the latest report tabled in the House.
Referring to the response of MoRTH, the committee observed that the funds should be allocated to each state and UTs under the scheme. It has also asked the ministry to consider integrating emergency communication devices such as emergency call boxes for the safety and assistance of all motorists in case of any urgent situation or accident.