Women can travel free in Metro, buses in Delhi
Women in Delhi can soon travel free on public transport, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on 3rd June 2019. Delhi government claims that, this move can ensure a safer environment for women when they are out and travelling.
At first, anyone who comes across this news would be tempted to praise the proposal. Especially because in our country, freebies are a good way to influence people’s thoughts and grab their attention. Give it a second thought and you’ll realize that there is much more to it and needs a lot more debate and planning, before anything really meaningful and worthy can come out of it.
Free bus and metro travel proposal for women is expected to cost the Delhi government Rs.700 crores approximately, on an annual basis. Some sources even claim that this cost could be, as high as Rs.1200 crores. Who will bear this expenditure – Delhi government? No. It’s the common taxpayer’s money and they will bear the brunt.
Experts suggest that such a free travel scheme for women in Delhi, could prove to be a complex affair and that similar experiments have not worked well in other Indian cities in the past. They also fear that there could be a drop in quality of services, if free travel concessions erode DMRC’s funds. Others feel that the money, the government wants to spend on free metro and bus travel should have been used to improve security infrastructure and uplift women safety in the city.
When women were asked, many of them mentioned that they do not want to travel in DTC buses as they felt unsafe. Even men have reported coming across many incidents of pickpocketing, thefts and robbing in DTC buses.
So essentially what people of Delhi are looking for is better safety and security infrastructure, more CCTV cameras and more security personnel.
Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) would also like to look at this from another angle. As per available statistics, 30-35% of commuters in Delhi Metro are women which means 65% Men travel in the Metro. Some obvious questions arise in this case.
- Why did the government propose this scheme only for women?
- Why not for men, or children or senior citizen? What is their fault?
- Don’t men deserve safety and security?
Off late, it has become a trend that whenever governments propose any welfare scheme or discounts, special provisions are proposed for women by default and men always remain ignored. This is not at all a good sign for the society, which proudly boasts to be adopting gender equality and gender neutrality as a new way of living. SIFF opposes this trend strongly and requests the administration to be more sensitive towards gender equality. Only then we can become a Nation, that enjoys equal status for it’s citizens.
** According to the Transport department, people can send their suggestions at ndelhiwomensafety@gmail.com or to the Chairman, DDC, Delhi Govt., 33, Shamnath Marg, Delhi-110054.