NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, OCT 31
Indian Railways has launched “Meri Saheli” an initiative for focused action on security of women across all zones with an objective to provide safety and security to lady passengers travelling by trains for their entire journey from starting station to destination station.
An initiative of RPF, the Strategy of the entails interaction with lady passengers especially those travelling alone by a team of young lady RPF personnel at the originating station.
These lady passengers are briefed about all precautions to be taken during the journey and told to dial 182 in case they face or see any problem in the coach.
The RPF team collects only the seat numbers of the ladies and conveys them to stoppages en-route. The platform duty RPF personnel at the stopping stations en-route keep unobtrusive watch over the concerned coaches and berths and if need arises, interact with the lady passengers. RPF/RPSF escort onboard also covers all the coaches/identified berths during its duty period.
RPF teams at the destination collect the feedback from the identified lady passengers. The feedback is then analysed and corrective action, if any, is taken. If some distress call comes from a train covered under “Meri Saheli” initiative, the disposal of the call is monitored at the level of senior officers.
‘Meri Saheli’ Abhiyan has been initiated across all divisions of the Southern Railway. The main motto of the initiative ‘Meri Saheli’ is to ensure focused action on security of women passengers travelling in trains throughout their journey.
To start with, 17 teams comprising RPF women officers and staff have been formed at the following originating stations over Southern Railway.
- Chennai Division : Dr MGR Chennai Central & Chennai Egmore
- Tiruchchirappalli Division: Trichy, Thanjavur, Pondichery & Naga-pattinam
- Salem Division : Coimbatore Erode & Salem
- Madurai Division: Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin & Sengottai station
- Palakkad Division : Mangalore Central
- Trivandrum Division : Nagercoil, Trivandrum and Ernakulam South
according to a release from the Chief Public Relations Officer S. Guganesan.
