nomicrelief forwomen is always
welcome,” Mariam Dhawale told
Frontline.
TheDelhiMetrocurrently covers
over 336 kilometreswith 244 sta-
tionsin Delhi,Gurugram,Noida and
Faridabad.It is estimated that 25
lakhcommuters,one-thirdof them
women, usetheurbanrapidtransit
systemeveryday. If the travelis
madefreefor womenpassengers,
theirnumberswillincrease signific-
antly, leading to concerns about
overcrowding. However, theDelhi
governmenthas dispelledsuch fears,
claimingthatthe systemcanaccom-
modate an additional 15 lakhcom-
muters.
Kejriwalalsoclarified thatthe
“subsidy willnot be imposedon any-
one”.“Thereare severalwomenwho
canaffordthesemodesof transport.
Thosewhocanaffordcanpurchase
tickets;theyneednottakesubsidy.
Weencourage thosewhocanafford
to buyticketsandnot takesubsidyso
thatotherscouldbenefit,” he saidas
the debate ragedon in socialmedia,
withseveral men criticisingwhat
theyfelt was“preferential treatment
of women”.
Even as scepticism that the
schememaynotsee thelightof the
dayowingtofinancialconstraints,
theDelhigovernmentseemsto be
workingroundthe clockto hastenits
implementation.OnJune 3, Delhi
TransportMinisterKailashGahlot
wroteto DelhiTransportCommis-
sionerRajeevVermaandaskedhim
to takethe necessarystepsfor imple-
mentation.As perreportsin various
newspapers,ManguSingh,the Man-
agingDirector of theDMRC,and
seniorofficialsof theDTCandthe
Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal
TransitSystemweresummonedto a
meetingRajeevVerma chaired at the
Secretariaton June6 to discuss the
proposal. He askedthe DMRCto ap-
prisehimof thefinancialimplica-
tions, technical feasibility and
modalitiesandchallengesinvolved
in implementingthe scheme.NOPRECEDENT
Theconceptof freepublic transport
has been experimented with in
Europeandin theUnitedStates
fromthe1950s, more notablyin
countries suchas Germany,France,
BelgiumandEstonia.Thesecoun-
triestooktheleadin makingpublic
transportfreefor its senior citizens
or studentsor otherdisadvantaged
sections.However,thereis no known
precedent anywhere elsein the world
wheretravelhasbeenmadefreeex-
clusively for women commuters.
Luxembourghasannouncedits de-
cisionto makepublic transportfree
for everybody by 2020;if it is ableto
achievethattarget, it willbe thefirst
countryin the worldto do so.
Women’ssafety,whichtheAAP
claimsguidedits decisionto subsid-
ise the MetroandDTCbusfaresfor
women commuters, has been a
pressing issuein the nationalcapital
for a longtime.Variousstudieshave
shown that women take longer
routesto get to theirworkplaces and
backhomeif thesearesafer. This
steeplyincreases their expenditure
on conveyance,andhence,seenin
thatcontext, the Delhigovernment’s
proposal makes sense. A studyby
Brown University, Rhode Island,U.S.,anchoredby GirijaBorker,il-
lustrated this. It measured how
street harassment forced women
scholarsof DelhiUniversity(D.U.) to
altertheirtravel routes or eventheir
choiceof college.GirijaBorkerstud-
iedthetravelroutesof4,000D.U.
studentsandfoundthatwomenwere
willingto choosea lessreputedcol-
legeif the travelroute to it wasper-
ceivedto be safer.Thestudyfurther
revealedthatwomenwerewilling to
spendan additional40 minutesin
traveltime, relativeto men,fora
saferroute,whichroughlyamounts
to Rs.18,800 a yearmorespenton
travelexpensesthanmen.Clearly,
thiscallsfor somerelaxationof fares
for women.
However,womenactivists point
outthata lot moreneedsto be done
to checkthe risingcrimegraphin the
National Capital Region. Many
workingwomenin DelhiandNoida
whospoketoFrontlinepointedout
that safety had to be ensured
throughout the journey and the
transitroute fromtheirhomesto the
metrostation needed to be madesafe
first andpavementsandalleyshadto
be putundergreatersurveillance.
AnnieRaja,general secretaryof the
National Federation of Indian Wo-
men,welcomed the schemebut dis-
missed the security-related
argumentsbeing made in its defence.
“It is not clearwhatthe government’s
intentis in making MetroandDTC
busrides freefor women.It cannot
be linkedto women’ssecuritysince
womenare vulnerableeverywhere
andtherehasto be far greaterinter-
vention to address the security
lapses.However,it is a welcome
schemeandshouldbe seenas the
first steptowardsmakingtransport
freefor everybody,” shesaid.
On the questionof the socialme-
dia backlashto the proposal,she said
thatsocialmediadidnotreflect the
viewsof all sectionsof society.“Are
womenwhocomefromdisadvant-
agedbackgrounds,whoworkin the
unorganisedsectorandfaceharass-
mentat multiplelevels,partof social
media?Sincetheirviews are not rep-
resentedin thatforum,howcanwe
takesocialmediadebates as diverse
andinclusive?”sheasked. $DEPUTYCHIEFMINISTER
ManishSisodiainteractingwitha
passengeronJune4, thedayafter
theDelhi governmentannounced
the proposal.
SUSHILKUMARVERMA