Dhaula Kuan is the feared zone in Delhi

Dhaula Kuan continues to top the notoriety chart. A survey has found the south Delhi area to be the most unsafe for women in the National Capital Region. Mallica Joshi reports. Mapping trouble spots

Dhaula Kuan continues to top the notoriety chart. A survey has found the south Delhi area to be the most unsafe for women in the National Capital Region.

HT Image

Dhaula Kuan, Nelson Mandela Marg, Benito Juarez Marg (both south Delhi), Paharganj (central Delhi) and Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road (south Delhi) - in descending order - have emerged as the five most unsafe places for women in the survey conducted by Whypoll, an NGO which describes ensuring better governance as its goal.

As many as 1 lakh people participated in the exercise conducted on and off line. Most of the respondents were women, who were asked to identify the places where they were harassed or felt unsafe at.

Based on the findings, the NGO has come up with a map - available on its website whypoll.org - of the 100 most unsafe places in NCR.

"The map is constantly evolving - we change rankings according to the feedback we get," said Shweta Punj, co-founder of Whypoll.

"Safety has to be a joint exercise. Naming these spots will create pressure on citizens and businesses in the area to make efforts to get it off the list. It'll eventually make the city safer."

The police, however, say the rankings are based on perception.

"These are impressions created on account of certain incidents and subsequent media reports. We're already paying attention to these areas," said Amulya Patnaik, joint commissioner of police (southern range).

"When we patrol these areas, we find women moving around without fear. Nonetheless extra force has been deployed."

Whypoll is planning to launch a phone app that will enable subscribers to alert chosen contacts in case of trouble.