In Bhubaneswar, Men found sitting in women's seat in city buses to be fined

Bhubaneswar, Jan 29: To ensure the safety of women travelling in city buses, the authorities have decided to levy penalty on male passengers if they sit on seats reserved for the fairer sex, an official said on Wednesday.

The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting between the Commissionerate of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, representatives of five local Bus Owners Associations, SPOs (special police officers) at Police Bhawan on Tuesday.

The action will be taken in order to ensure safe journey of women in the city buses, a senior police officer said, adding that it is often found that female commuters are subjected to harassment while travelling on buses.

The penalty amount has not yet been fixed, officials said. The meeting also resolved that an emergency toll-free number will soon be set up for women passengers to deal with any untoward incidents and safety while travelling in city buses. "Sensitization of public transport stake holders on gender based violence against lady commuters. Thanks to #CRUT & Pvt Assns. office bearers for their resolve to facilitate lady commuters a safe travel ... ," an official twitter post of the Commissionerate of Police said.

Meanwhile, the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) on Wednesday decided to continue reduced AC fares in technology-driven, citizen friendly Mo bus service for the next two months.

The AC bus fares which were slashed up to 38 per cent in December, 2019 will continue till March 31, 2020, said Dipti Mahapatro, General Manager, CRUT. She further informed that there has been 22 per cent boost in AC ridership in the month of December. "While in the month of November 4.3 lakh people travelled in AC Mo Bus, 5.5 lakhs footfall was recorded in December.

In the month of January, the growth has been a consistent 9 per cent in AC Mo Bus ridership. As on 27th January, 4.7 lakhs people have travelled in AC Buses," she said. The CRUT has decided to add another 189 buses to the fleet. Out of 189, 50 buses will be electric buses, she said.