The Gurugram district administration has launched a gender sensitisation campaign ‘Safe Gaadi’ in collaboration with Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and the Manas Foundation, a group of mental health professionals.
As per this campaign, it’s now compulsory for drivers of commercial vehicles (taxi, auto-rickshaw and bus drivers) to attend gender sensitisation classes, failing which they would not receive their vehicle fitness certificates.
The classes will address behavioural issues, instances of gender-based violence, laws related to women’s rights and drivers’ responsibility towards women’s safety, said Teena Yadav, senior trainer at the Manas Foundation.
The training will begin from June 1 and continue for five days. The training will be imparted to two batches of 50-60 commercial vehicle drivers, each, for two hours a day at the Department of Fisheries building in the Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park.
At the end of their training, drivers will be given a certificate and stickers for their vehicles with slogans such as “Along with my auto, I also drive a campaign to end violence against women”.
Women’s safety remains a major concern in Gurugram. In 2015, Haryana was ranked 4th by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) for highest instances of gangrape in the country.
According to the NCRB data, 52 instances of rapes, nine gangrapes, 100 instances of molestation and 45 cases under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were registered in Gurugram in 2017.
“Women’s safety remains compromised in the national capital region (NCR). Our responsibility, as good citizens, is to ensure that women feel safe in public spaces. For that, our mentality needs to change,” deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, who was present at the launch of the campaign, said.
