Starting with a signal: Mumbai’s Dadar gets female figures on traffic lights

According to reports, Mumbai’s civic body will change road signs and pedestrian signals at 13 junctions on Cadell Road, a 4.5-km arterial stretch in Mumbai’s Dadar and Mahim.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has installed signs at a traffic junction in the Dadar area of Mumbai with female figures to promote gender quality in the city.

Aaditya Thackeray shared photos of the newly-installed signs at the junction in Dadar on Twitter Saturday. (AUThackeray/Twitter Photo)

Maharashtra’s environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray shared photos of the newly-installed signs at the junction in Dadar on Twitter Saturday.

“If you have passed by Dadar, you will see something that will make you feel proud. @mybmcWardGN is ensuring gender equality with a simple idea – the signals now have women too,” he tweeted.

This road has Siddhivinayak Temple, Mahim dargah, Mahim church, BR Ambedkar’s memorial Chaityabhoomi and the proposed site for the memorial of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

The initiative has made Mumbai the first Indian city to have female symbols on road signages.

Many cities in Germany and the Netherlands and Switzerland’s Geneva already have female signs on traffic lights. Authorities in Australia’s Melbourne have been using female figures to promote gender equality since 2017.