Secunderabad: South Central Railway takes up special drive for women safety

Secunderabad: South Central Railway has launched 'Meri Saheli' initiative over the zone for a focused action to ensure security of women, especially those travelling alone. The initiative has been launched with an objective to provide safety and security to lady passengers travelling by trains for their entire journey.

"South Central Railway identified 8 important trains plying over the jurisdiction and organized Meri Saheli Campaign to increase awareness amongst women passengers.

The strategy of this operation is to interact with lady passengers by a team of young lady Railway Protection Force (RPF) Sub Inspectors/Staff at the originating station. During the specially organized campaigns, the lady passengers are briefed about all the precautions to be taken during the journey and are advised to dial 182 in case of any emergency.

The RPF team will collect only the seat numbers of the lady passengers and convey them about the stoppages en-route. The platform duty RPF personnel at the stopping stations en-route keep un obtrusive watch over the concerned coaches and berths and if need arises, interact with the lady passengers. Onboard RPF/RPSF escort will also cover all the coaches/identified berths during their duty period," said said a senior officer, SCR.

RPF teams will also collect the feedback from the identified lady passengers at the destination stations. If some distress call comes from any lady passenger travelling in the train covered under 'Meri Saheli' initiative, the disposal of the call is monitored at the level of senior officers of the concerned division.

Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR complemented the Railway Protection Force personnel for implementing the 'Meri Saheli' initiative and organizing the focused campaigns to educate the women passengers about security precautions to observed while travelling.

Also advise the RPF personnel to stay alert and vigilant to protect the women passengers when they make any distress call and prompt action should be taken against the culprits involved.