Pune rape: Appoint IPS officer for safety of women at depots, says minister

State transport minister Pratap Sarnaik held a meeting with officers from MSRTC, transport department and police at Mantralaya on Thursday, after discussing the issue with deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde

The state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik ordered a security audit of all Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) depots, after a 26-year-old was raped in a stationary bus at Swargate, Pune, on Tuesday. The minister has also issued a directive that all unused vehicles, including those that have been scrapped, be removed from the premises by April 15.

Mumbai, India - September 8, 2020: Pratap Sarnaik at the Vidhan Bhavan for the Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra State Legislature in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. (HT PHOTO) (Hindustan Times)

He added that he will urge the home department to appoint an IPS officer to who would supervise the safety of MSRTC depots and buses. Incidentally, till around three years ago, a senior IPS officer was deployed to oversee vigilance and security at all MSRTC depots. The system was subsequently aborted.

Sarnaik held a meeting with officers from MSRTC, transport department and police at Mantralaya on Thursday, after discussing the issue with deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.

After Tuesday’s incident came to the fore, apart from security lapse, focus was also put on unused buses lying in Pune depots and the space allegedly used for criminal acts.

Sarnaik said that a security audit of 831 MSRTC depots is on the anvil. The transport body has 14,300 buses, of which 450 are electric vehicles. He added, GPS systems and CCTV cameras will be fitted in all the vehicles. He said that “as the CCTV network at the Swargate police station was active, the accused Dattatreya Ramdas Gade could be identified”.

The transport minister said that MSRTC gets security personnel from the state security board, in which he has now directed that there be at least a 20 per cent representation of women.

Meanwhile, office bearers of the Shiv Sena Mahila Aghadi in a press note, stated that they will also undertake a security audit at the depots by conducting on-ground inspection to ascertain that all women are safe at the bus terminals. A report on the shortcomings will be submitted via WhatsApp, informed Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande.