CISF to help late night women commuters in Delhi Metro

To ensure better security to women travelling by Delhi Metro during late hours, CISF has deployed special teams of its 'mahila' personnel to assist such commuters in safely getting public transport to home.

The security force has tasked its women officials and commandos posted in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network to not only help female passengers who travel late in night within the station area but also assist them in hiring local transport like an auto, rickshaw or a bus to their place of residence.

The force has deployed over 4,800 personnel (both men and women) to secure 136 stations of the DMRC in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurgaon.

"We have asked our women personnel to help female passengers who have to travel late in the night. They (women personnel) will help them in select stations which get secluded during night. As part of these measures, our women personnel even note down the number of the auto or the public transport vehicle in which the women passengers were seen off by them.

"This creates a psychological effect in the minds of people that they are being watched and tracked when they are dealing with women passengers and it also gives women a better sense of security," CISF Director General Arvind Ranjan told reporters during an annual conference on the eve of the forces' 46th Raising Day here.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) chief said the force, in order to enhance women security, has also deployed an elite squad of women commandos to help female commuters in distress in the Metro network.

Ranjan said the force is increasingly relying on the coverage provided by CCTV cameras in stations to detect any "unusual behaviour" or suspect act in the rapid rail network of the national capital which witnesses approximately 26 lakh footfalls every day.

"We are in the process of deploying more CCTV cameras in Delhi metro stations. This has given us an edge earlier as we detected about 180 instances where people were noticed to be in a disturbed state of mind.

"CISF teams rushed to attend to such passengers. We avoided many mishaps due to CCTV monitoring. More than 500 cases of people illegally walking on tracks were detected last year due to CCTV surveillance," he said.

The CISF DG said the force personnel posted in Metro are also being trained in good behaviour and courtesy techniques while they deal with the passengers in this network, popularly called the lifeline of Delhi.

CISF officials said in order to better manage crowds at large stations, the DMRC has proposed to erect glass door corridors right on the platforms at six stations of Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi, Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Chawri Bazar and Central Secretariat.

Ranjan, during the interaction, said the statistics compiled by the force show that over 90 per cent of thefts in the Metro were carried out by women or girl pick-pockets.

A senior CISF officers said the force has also sought the help of DMRC in getting a simple four-digit number for its Metro helpline to replace the existing number--01122185555.

"Helpline numbers should be small and easy to remember. We hope to obtain and publicise such a number soon so that passengers can easily inform us about any suspect activity in the Delhi Metro," the official said