Delhi transport dept to deploy women cops onselect routes

Women police will be deployed on Ladies Special buses in Delhi to enhance safety, along with new all-women police stations for women and children.

New Delhi

Additionally, dedicated all-women police stations, catering exclusively to crimes and complaints of women and children, will be established in every police district. (Representative photo)

Women police personnel will soon be deployed on “Ladies Special” buses operating on vulnerable routes across the city, officials with the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) said on Wednesday, with the decision taken in a meeting with the Delhi Police on integration of panic buttons with the police control room helpline.

Additionally, dedicated all-women police stations, catering exclusively to crimes and complaints of women and children, will be established in every police district, officials said. The meeting between the DTC and police was chaired by lieutenant governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu. The Delhi Police commissioner, Satish Golchha, was also in attendance.

“This instantaneous linkage (of panic buttons with 112 helpline) will enable seamless coordination between the transit network and law enforcement, ensuring a faster, more effective and foolproof emergency response mechanism for women passengers in distress,” a transport department official said.

DTC officials said they have completed a preliminary exercise to identify vulnerable routes with high female ridership.

Commissioner Golchha assured that the required number of women personnel would be made available and suggested deploying women home guard marshals alongside police staff to strengthen security.

The police, meanwhile, said that personnel will be deployed based on requirements raised by the transport department, a senior police officer said. “Since the directions came from the LG, we will deploy women personnel in DTC buses as part of the women safety measures,” the officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

In the meeting, Golchha also told LG Sandhu that the plan to establish dedicated all-women police stations was ready for a roll-out, officials said. The first such police station is set to become operational shortly, with similar facilities proposed across all police districts.

The official cited above told HT that the pilot project will gradually be implemented across all DTC buses in the city. To be sure, there are 30 routes on which the Ladies Special service operates.

On the routes selected, the official said, “These are vulnerable routes. There have been instances of men boarding these buses, trying to stop them, or creating a ruckus. That’s why the project will first be implemented in these buses.”

Transport department officials also said that although DTC has 77 women drivers, not all of them drive Ladies Special buses. “That too will gradually change,” the official said.