Delhi govt to deploy 4,000 marshals in city buses: Min

New Delhi, Jun 10: Delhi government has decided to deploy trained marshals in all buses plying in the national capital to put a check on incidents of eve-teasing and violence against women.

The government has already planned to depute 4,000 well trained marshals in the first phase, which would be extended subsequently. "Delhi government has decided to depute marshals in all DTC and cluster buses plying in Delhi.

These marshals would be drawn from the Home Guards and civil defence who are well trained to prevent untoward incidents, particularly, violence against women in public transport buses.

"This will not only put a check on incidents of eve- teasing and violence against women and girls, but also will instill confidence among the women to use public transport as a safe mode of commuting," Delhi Women and Child Development Minister Sandeep Kumar said at a programme here today.

The government has also decided to install CCTV cameras in public transport buses to keep a close watch over any attempt of violence against women or eve-teasing. "As a pilot project, CCTV cameras have already been installed in 200 buses. The result of which would be reviewed in a couple of months and accordingly, decision would be taken to replicate the experiment in the entire fleet," said Kumar.

Elaborating about other measures to make commuting by women in public transport, the Minister said, Delhi government has made it mandatory for all public transport vehicles, including taxis, to install GPS system for tracking of the vehicles. "Taxi operators had sought some time to implement this and the government has granted time till June.

Thereafter, all taxis and public transport vehicles are bound to install GPS for plying in Delhi," Kumar said at a programme "Safe Cities for Women and Girls in Action: Implementation Essentials and Key Take-Aways" by UN Women Safe Cities Global Leader's Forum.

Following recent incidents of sexual abuse of women by the taxi drivers in the NCR, he said, the government has banned operations of taxi aggregators like Uber and Ola as the taxi drivers operating through such aggregators were not verified by the respective police authorities.

"Prima facie, allowing taxi drivers, whose antecedents were not verified, to operate in Delhi might endanger safety of unsuspecting passengers, particularly, women in odd hours. Hence, government has banned the operation of such services," he said.

Delhi government was fully committed to ensure safety of women and girls in the capital city and it was the top most agenda of the government to make Delhi safer for women and girls in a coherent manner, Kumar added.

PTI