The unlit areas of Ranchi and Hatia railway stations were lit on Friday as a symbol of providing safety to girl children and women in the State capital.
The initiative taken by an international Non Government Organization (NGO), Save the Children along with Ranchi Railway Division, was aimed at spreading awareness about the importance of safety in the life of children and marked a unique Diwali celebration at the Ranchi Railway Division.
As a part of the programme, the Railway staff from the two railway stations in Ranchi pledged to ensure safety for women and children at and around railway stations. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) also participated in the programme. The initiative was a part of a campaign started by Save the Children on October 11, the International Day for Girl Child. The campaign deals with lighting up the unlit areas in Jharkhand’s villages in order to make girls feel safer, said Soumi Guha Halder, Communication Manager of Save the Children.
“Our campaign will conclude on January 24, which is the National Day for Girl Child. During this period we will light up all the unlit areas of villages and panchayats here in order to make girls feel safer,” said Halder.
The initiative assumes significance as Ranchi Railway Station has long been one of the transit points for girls trafficked to metro cities from Jharkhand. Activists say that traffickers lured children from different parts of the State to Ranchi and then sent them to the metros by railways.
A report by Save the Children, titled Wings 2018: World of India’s Girls, says that that one in every three adolescent girls surveyed were “scared of traversing the narrow by-lanes of their locality, as well as the road to go to school or the local market”.
The report says, “In rural areas one in four adolescent girls felt unsafe when using open spaces/agricultural fields for open defecation. Nearly three in five girls reported feeling unsafe in situations where the public place was overcrowded.”
The study adds that more than 50 per cent of adolescent girls feel unsafe while travelling in public transport, including trains in India. “Girls do feel unsafe while travelling in public transport.
Spreading awareness and involving the various stakeholders in making the transport system safer is the need of the hour,” Halder said.
Ranchi Divisional Railway Manager Neeraj Ambastha also attended the event on Friday and assured to take all possible initiatives for making railway stations safer for adolescent girls and women.