Gurgaon's pink autos for women a failure despite rising cases of sexual assault

Gurgaon: Unsafe public transport system is often cited as one of the reasons for women commuters being subject to sexual assault. The recent case of rape by a Uber taxi driver and the horrific December 16, 2012 gangrape of a paramedical student by six men in a moving bus in Delhi have seen women vociferously demand a better and safe public transport system.

Gurgaon Traffic Police in January 2013 had relaunched pink autos to ensure a safe transport system for women. But the project has been a failure even though it was relaunched twice in the last two years as Gurgaon has a large number of single women working in IT and related industries.

Pink autos were first introduced in 2010 after several women were assaulted by taxi drivers and in public transport but the move failed to garner a good response. The second time, these autos were equipped with special features like a panic button, a GPS system and launched after the Delhi gangrape, but they still failed to function.

Gurgaon Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Bharti Arora said,"We introduced them and also created a stand for them at MG Road Metro station. In fact the autos were given special preference at registered auto stands but still the concept failed because it was less economical."

"The project was started in January 2013 in the wake of gruesome rapes. But we don't know what happened to them after that. We are not aware about them," added Gurgaon Police PRO (Traffic) Subhash Chand.

But women in Gurgaon say they need such a service. A daily commuter Prachi Garg said, "I have been working in Gurgaon since one year but I have never seen any pink auto here. I really wish such projects start again because a lot of safety issues will be resolved then."

Twenty-two autos were registered for the initial run and were available from MG Road Metro station but are nowhere to be seen now.

"I used it just once and now I hardly see any of them. Well, it's more of a laughing matter now. Gurgaon Police should think of better solutions," Vandana Saini, a 25-year old working professional said.

"It may be beneficial but for us it was difficult to sustain as it wasted our time and we also earned less," Sanjay Kumar, an auto driver said.