Mumbai: A recent survey by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) revealed 45% of women on Western Railway and 40% on Central Railway are being harassed while travelling.
The survey was conducted among the female commuters of Virar-Dahanu Road and Neral-Karjat section of Western and Central Railway respectively.
Its aim was to provide data to measure the impact along the gender dimension of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s financing towards selected components of MUTP-3.
“More than 45% of female commuters have seen or being a victim of harassment or threat in and around stations, in which men boarding the ladies coach is quite commonly found.
Of such commuters, only one-fourth have lodged a complaint at a police station or to station staff. Only half of them have used Railway’s Women Safety Helpline number,” said an official.
Similarly, on CR, 4 of 10 commuters have seen or being a victim of harassment or threat in and around stations, in which men boarding the ladies coach is quite commonly found.
“Of these commuters, 60% have lodged a complaint mostly with the station staff. Only 13% have used Railway’s Women Safety Helpline. Even awareness about this number is quite low among the commuters and hence usage is very low,” read survey report.
