Women irked at lack of safety arrangements in trains

Jaswant Shetra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 24

Women travelling in trains face a lot of problems during their journey due to lack of safety arrangements.

Women, especially those travelling during the late evenings, often become victim to harassment by male passengers. They complain that men travelling in trains use foul language, thus causing a lot of embarrassment to the women passengers.

Generally, there is no guard deployed in trains running between Ludhiana and Ferozepur and Ludhiana and Amritsar and if any women passenger has any problem, she has no one to complain about it.

“There are no safety arrangements for women in trains. They often face harassment while travelling, especially during the late evening hours. I have to travel between Jalandhar and Ludhiana everyday for work and several times, male passengers are in an inebriated condition and even use foul language,” said Roopali Rattan, a frequent traveller.

A few days ago, a high drama was witnessed in Ludhiana-Ferozepur passenger train, when some passengers started consuming liquor and used uncivilised language. When the women passengers objected to it, the male passengers started arguing with them. However, the matter was resolved when some elderly passengers intervened.

“After consuming liquor, male passengers start behaving in an unruly manner. What is more unfortunate is that there is no body in trains to whom women can go and lodge a complaint,” said Avtar Kaur, another passenger.

The female passengers have demanded from the railways authorities to make proper arrangements for the safety of the women passengers in trains.

ASI Sarabjit Singh of GRP said they have deployed guards in most of the trains. “We do not have enough manpower to deploy guards in all bogies. The GRP guards remain present at all railway stations and if passengers have any problem, they can approach the guards. Passengers can also contact the train captain if there is a problem,” he added.