In order to facilitate the women to travel in the buses free from fear, the State Government started Nirbhaya bus service on two routes - Dehradun-Hardiwar and Dehradun-Rishikesh - over a week back. It is a women-exclusive service, though the children up to 12 years are allowed to commute with their mothers. The move was lauded by all, particularly the women of the State where atrocities on them are on the spiral.
However, things on the ground are not satisfactory, given the Government’s failure to put right things in right order. The buses which are being pressed into service have been in operation on the roads for over five years. Notably, as per norms, buses should not be on the roads after they complete three years’ service. Besides, the State Government has neither installed CCTV camera nor recruited woman security guard on such buses.
In addition, men drivers who previously worked for the private buses have been appointed on contractual basis for these women-exclusive buses. Women travellers are not finding them different from the general ones plying along these routes. This is resulting in the women not getting enthused to avail of this service.
It is pertinent to mention here that Nirbhaya bus service was flagged off by Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh on March 11. She vented her disappointment with the officers concerned for using the old buses, shorn of modern equipments and technology.
Ruchi Diwan, a conductor of Nirbhaya bus service on Dehradun-Rishikesh route, said the lack of awareness among those for whom these buses are meant is leaving seats in them mostly unoccupied. The awareness campaign should be launched by the Government to help the service to serve the purpose it is meant for. The college students and working women should be informed through media, she said.
A week after it was launched, the women commuters are asking what is new in these buses that can distinguish them from others. With no CCTVs in place and no woman security guard on vigil, this fleet has nothing to show off as new, save for its nomenclature, said one of the commuters.
Another questioned the logic of recruiting men as drivers in this much-touted women-exclusive fleet. Supporting the demand, Diwan said that the authority should take initiatives to recruit women drivers. “I do not think this would prove difficult. Women are now taking up things which were earlier deemed as exclusive preserve of the men,” she added.
Another conductor Chandkanta Rawat said that with the timetable of the Doon-Haridwar route service remaining unfixed, the number of women boarding up these buses is not satisfactory. Even those we find on the roads waiting for buses to commute are not evincing interests. Awareness campaign might solve this problem of passenger crunch, she added.
One of the two buses pressed into service departs for Rishikesh at 8.00 am and at 1 pm while the other leaves for Haridwar at 8.30 am and 1.30 pm from ISBT. However, the departure times from Haridwar and Rishikesh are not yet fixed. Things depend on the time these buses arrive. Sulochana Singh, who was standing at ISBT looking for a Nirbhaya bus, said the Government should fulfill its commitment to make the service a truly women-exclusive one.
“Men drivers being recruited from the private fleets and such buses remaining bereft of CCTVs and women security guards cannot instill confidence enough in the women commuters to avail this service to the expected extent,” she said, adding that things would hopefully look up in the coming days.