Pink autos: A driving change for women

The Nirbhaya incident has created panic among girls. How safe is our country for girls? Every single day, we hear a girl being raped, kidnapped or murdered. While some are reported, others go unreported. Let alone, teenage and young girls, innocent toddlers are also being sexually assaulted. Why? Are they sexually appealing? Is their dress attracting men? No!

Parents are tensed until their loved ones come back home safely from their school, college or work place. How safe does a girl feel while coming out of office at odd hours? Putting a step forward in the hope for a change, Suresh Raju, founder of Vaada Foundation, suggests an idea…an idea which has been well initiated and implemented in Kerala. He suggested the concept of Pink Autos for Hyderabad.

“We got this idea after the horrifying Delhi rape case incident. Since then, we are working on it. We wanted to understand the problems faced by women while commuting at odd hours. We have a few women volunteers who did an in-depth research on it. An American friend of mine, who was here for a while, was asked to take autos for two weeks. She was bullied, teased, exploited by the auto drivers. This was our first test. We thought we should come up with something where women can commute very easily to any part of the city at any point of time,” informs Suresh Raju.

Asking on why he chose autos but not cabs, he says, autos are affordable. “We were targeting the middle class women. Our fares are same as normal autos,” he adds.

The women drivers would be trained. They have many brain-storming sessions and many training programmes specially designed for them.

The drivers would also be given many self-defence programmes and also physical and mental training. They would be taught etiquettes on how to talk and deal with the customers.

A lady called Narayanamma, who has been driving autos for the last eight years, would be training the drivers.

“RTA has orally given us permission. We are requesting the RTA to grant us badges as soon as possible or allow the drivers to move without badges until they get one. The training has not been completed yet. We are working on it,” Suresh shares.

These autos would also have GPS SoS facilities for the drivers. When they press the SoS button, a recorded message is passed on to the assigned number. The numbers can either be their family’s, Vaada foundation’s or the police. ECIL is producing these gadgets.

Narayanamma, the auto driver, says, “I have not encountered any dangerous situations. I just faced a few petty issues, and I had dealt it with ease. I have resorted to physical abuse whenever I encounter some misbehaviour.”

To ensure the safety of the drivers, they have a driver’s cabin inside the auto which is locked from inside. They are asked to carry pepper spray along. So far, 15 girls have come forward to be the drivers. The training programme would start from December 16 or even before that.

The gruesome Delhi gang rape had indeed sent shockwaves across the nation. With nearly 3,584 crimes reported, which includes 141 rape cases in 2012, Hyderabad does not lag behind in violence against women. For the urban youth, aka the techie women, cabs and autos at night…are a nightmare. The recent rape of a techie is an apt example. But now, hope is in store, in the form of pink autos driven by women…for the women