Safety first: State mulls helpline for female passengers
The Statesman | 31 July 2025
The state transport department has decided to introduce helpline numbers for women travelling in buses, online app cabs and taxis.
A high-level meeting on the subject was held by the department officials with the city police, officials of the city airport, private and minibus operators, long distance luxury buses and inter-intra regional bus operators. The department is soon to launch a helpline number which is to be displayed prominently by the transport operators inside their vehicles. The helpline number is to be opened to ensure women safety particularly for those working in night shifts.
Notably, in the existing system, the vehicle location tracking device also has a feature of a panic button. However, according to the bus operators, despite installing the device, malfunctioning of the VLTD has been observed in several vehicles. Earlier in June, nine vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) manufacturing companies were black listed by the state transport department following malfunctioning of the device reported by many transport operators. Apart from being blacklisted, the manufacturers have been asked to submit a reply on the malfunctioning of the devices provided by them.
As learnt from sources, the move to launch a women helpline number comes in the background of a previous court order.