Passengers, especially Delhi women, facing harassment and eve-teasing in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses will finally have some one to turn to in case of any mistreatment as a 1,000 home guards are being deployed in DTC buses in order to ensure safety of passengers.
In its first such move to tackle growing number of complaints of frotteurism and harassment in public transport buses, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government announced that a thousand home guards have already reported to DTC from where they will be deployed on different checking beats throughout Delhi.
In addition to the deployment of home guards, the government has also installed CCTV cameras in 200 buses as a part of its pilot project to keep a close watch over any attempt of violence against women or eve-teasing.
The developments have come in wake of Delhi government’s order of mandatory installation of GPS systems for tracking of the vehicles including taxis.
While 1000 thousand home guards, under a group of 4-5 home guards, will be associated with at least one DTC traffic supervisor, the AAP government is further aiming to deploy 2000 home guards in buses in the first phase.
“The checking groups will be deputed in DTC terminals and main bus stops with the aim to check the buses for safety of travelling passengers,” DTC spokesperson R S Minhas said.
It remains to be seen whether the deployment of home guards on DTC buses will have any impact on bringing down the incidents of mistreatment and harassment of passengers, particularly in the backdrop of a not-so-great record of law enforcement agencies in Delhi when it comes to tackling crimes against women.
Feature image source: Reuters