In a bid to make the roads safer for women, Ghaziabad police has introduced special pink autorickshaws for female commuters. The autos, marked as Mahila Special or Ladies Special, were flagged off by KS Emmanuel, SSP Ghaziabad, on Tuesday.
In the first phase, 20 pink autos have been introduced on the roads, with five each at the Kaushambi Metro station, the Vaishali Metro station, the railway station and the old bus stand. The rickshaws, which were approved after consulting the auto rickshaw union of Ghaziabad, are, however, permitted to ply only within the Ghaziabad municipal area. All pink auto drivers have been issued identity cards by the local police and had a thorough background check done.
Speaking to City Spidey, Rajesh Kumar, SP (Traffic), said that keeping the sheer number of women commuters in mind, the department was in the process of consulting the RTO to provide permits for at least 300 pink autos in the city.
Kavita Mathur, a resident of Indirapuram, said, “This initiative should have been taken a long time back. I still shudder to think about what the 24-year-old Snapdeal employee went through! But it’s a good thing that the police are finally doing something to make the streets a safer place for women. The pink autos will surely be a big help to women travelling at night.”
Pink autos were also launched in Noida a few months back. City Spidey spoke to female residents of Noida to understand how that initiative was going.
Nishi Agarwal, a resident of Sector 19, Noida, said, “It has been a success, to an extent. Though we understand such facilities will not be an overnight success in a huge city such as Noida, we do hope the government has concrete plans to make the initiative work.”
