SCR prioritises security for women

Kachiguda: Security awareness programme for women passengers started on Friday at Kachiguda railway station, the programme is entitled as “Women Saftey Drive” a measure by Railway Protection Force (RPF) Hyderabad to ensure the safety and security of women passengers in railway.

On Friday the women RPF officials escorted women coaches on the Kurnool to Nizamabad service to spread the awareness of safety and security measures to women passengers using informative pamphlets, speaking to passengers and counseling them for better safety.

The programme is to set awareness about the helpline number which was released years ago and a very few complaints have been made. The RPF helpline number is “182” which will connect the passenger to nearest RPF station. The Raksha app is also designed by the RPF for Sub Urban Hyderabad Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS) passengers, using Raksha app passengers can directly text RPF officials or ask for help by pressing the red button, which will send a SMS alert to the nearest RPF official.

Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF Hyderabad K Senthil said “Women RPF team are escorting six women coaches in the “Mathrubhoomi” which is a special service for women by MMTS to spread awareness about the safety measures for women, Raksha app and helpline number 182".

He added "Under Nirbhaya scheme all the stations will have CCTV cameras installed in the next six months for better security. Passengers are more vulnerable during summers because most of theft cases increase during these months like chain snatching and molestation which are reduced because of special coaches for women passengers and strict punishments for the offends".

The Women Saftey Drive programme will be continued for 15 days during which women RPF officers will collect the feedback from the women passengers using which better services will be created which will start functioning for the upcoming year.