Women's safety: New buses may get hooters with speaker

NEW DELHI: To make travelling for women safer in the public transport of Delhi, government is looking at an innovative idea to put hooters with a speaker in government-run buses. The concept behind putting these hooters is if any woman presses the panic button, the hooter will immediately start buzzing like a siren. An alert will also be sent to the central monitoring room. With these hooters, the bus would be immediately stopped at the street and will not only alert other passengers but also the police nearby.

According to the senior officials of the Delhi government, on the discussions of safety in the public transport, the officials learned that immediately informing the authorities and the general public could be more helpful to combat such incidents in the buses. "We have learned about the necessity of such a plan and we will look into the matter further. The specially formed task force for the women will also look into such proposals and idea," said an official.

The official said that the government will make sure that there should be 10 panic buttons installed at every cluster and DTC buses. "After the meetings with the Delhi CM, LG and transport department, we have decided the first thing is to install 10 panic buttons at every bus of Delhi thereafter we will work on strengthening the women safety measures in the public transport system," said an official. Meanwhile, this month the Dialogue and Development Commission has constituted a Task Force for Women Safety in Public Transport in Delhi. The commission advises the Delhi government on key policy issues to ensure safety and improve the quality of commuting for women travellers on public transport in the national Capital.

"The task force will conduct both off and on ground reviews and monitor all existing schemes for women's safety in Delhi, and will propose new plans for strengthening women's safety in the Capital," Jasmine Shah, Vice-Chairperson of the DDC, said. The task force has been constituted with the approval of the Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot. It has been entrusted with the task of evaluating and monitoring various initiatives taken by the Delhi government towards women's safety, including installation of CCTVs and panic buttons in buses, and strengthening the Delhi government's flagship 'Bus Marshal scheme', which has been in place in all

Government-run DTC buses since 2015.