Sliding doors separating men, women sections in Hyderabad buses to check harassment

Hyderabad, Dec 4: To check harassment of women in public transport, the Hyderabad road transport authority has revamped the city buses.

The State Road Transport Corporation buses plying in Hyderabad now have sliding doors with wire mesh which separate the men and women's section. To begin with, the corporation partitioned the sections in eight ordinary city buses in November last week.

The execution of the plan began in September when glass panes without sliding door were put up in the buses. This move came after several complaints were raised by women commuters about drunkards, who move into women's section, push them and sometimes occupy seats reserved for women.

Also, women commuters have demanded that a helpline phone number be displayed in buses for lodging complaints in case of harassment.

Good facility, say commuters

In 2012, a medical student who boarded a bus in New Delhi at night, along with her male friend, was gangraped by six men. This had raised concerns about the safety of women who travel in public transport.

The new initiative by the state public transport authority has pleased the women commuters, said a NDTV report. Bus conductors have also been relieved as they would no longer have to be worried by the quarrels between drunken men passengers and women commuters in the bus.

An Indian Express report has quoted RTC vice-chairman and MD J Purnachandra Rao as saying, "Women and girl students expressed happiness over this partition. A decision has been taken to introduce this feature in all Ordinary city buses which are usually overcrowded and passengers jostle with each other, putting women to inconvenience"

Oneindia News