Two years ago, after the rape-murder of a young paramedical student by six men, the Delhi government’s transport department promised a rash of measures to bolster women’s safety in the capital. Claims were made that global positioning system devices will be installed in all buses, auto rickshaws and commercial vehicles, marshals will be deployed in buses, and all commercial drivers will undergo police verification.
Even today, these pledges remain largely unfulfilled. Officials blame this on many reasons, including lack of funds and the president’s rule in Delhi. But their excuses ring hollow.
Here are five failures of the Delhi government and its agencies in implementing their promises.
GPS devices
Following the 2012 rape-murder, the transport department had mandated GPS navigation devices in all passenger-carrying commercial and government vehicles, including buses, auto rickshaws, taxis, Gramin Sewa vehicles. Even school buses and vans were required to get them.
But so far, only 40,000 out of the total 1.1 lakh auto rickshaws have installed the devices. “Most of these are new autos because it is a prerequisite,” said a transport official. “Getting old autos to comply has been difficult.” Similarly, about half of the 30,000 commercial vehicles have followed the department’s order.
All 6,321 Delhi Transport Corporation buses received the gadgets, as promised, but 1,800 of these have already been stolen and are yet to be replaced.
Guards on buses
Since the transport department was unable to recruit enough people for its enforcement wing, its promise of deploying home guards in Delhi Transport Corporation buses has also been half-fulfilled. Currently, home guards are posted just on a third of the 80 night-service buses.
Coordination between agencies
The point of installing a GPS surveillance system was that the Delhi Police could identify suspicious patterns and prevent a crime. But the back-end team that monitors the system has reportedly not being sharing the data with the Delhi Police.
Public service badges
In 2013, the Congress government in Delhi had announced that the drivers of all commercial and government-operated passenger vehicles will have to undergo police verification, following which they will be issued public service vehicle badges. Thus far, background checks have been run on only about 20,000 passenger vehicles – and out of these, the permits of 3,000 autos and taxis besides 2,500 buses had to be cancelled because the address could not be verified.
How miniscule these numbers are can be understood when posited with the fact that the capital has more than 1.1 lakh auto rickshaws, 15,000 buses and 43,000 taxis.
Police verification
The Delhi government had ordered the transport department to run police verification on all school bus staff, but the task is still pending. It also turned out that 80% of the private chartered buses in the city are used by private schools. So, the school bus staff is not employed by the schools but by the bus owners.
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Even today, these pledges remain largely unfulfilled. Officials blame this on many reasons, including lack of funds and the president’s rule in Delhi. But their excuses ring hollow.
Here are five failures of the Delhi government and its agencies in implementing their promises.
GPS devices
Following the 2012 rape-murder, the transport department had mandated GPS navigation devices in all passenger-carrying commercial and government vehicles, including buses, auto rickshaws, taxis, Gramin Sewa vehicles. Even school buses and vans were required to get them.
But so far, only 40,000 out of the total 1.1 lakh auto rickshaws have installed the devices. “Most of these are new autos because it is a prerequisite,” said a transport official. “Getting old autos to comply has been difficult.” Similarly, about half of the 30,000 commercial vehicles have followed the department’s order.
All 6,321 Delhi Transport Corporation buses received the gadgets, as promised, but 1,800 of these have already been stolen and are yet to be replaced.
Guards on buses
Since the transport department was unable to recruit enough people for its enforcement wing, its promise of deploying home guards in Delhi Transport Corporation buses has also been half-fulfilled. Currently, home guards are posted just on a third of the 80 night-service buses.
Coordination between agencies
The point of installing a GPS surveillance system was that the Delhi Police could identify suspicious patterns and prevent a crime. But the back-end team that monitors the system has reportedly not being sharing the data with the Delhi Police.
Public service badges
In 2013, the Congress government in Delhi had announced that the drivers of all commercial and government-operated passenger vehicles will have to undergo police verification, following which they will be issued public service vehicle badges. Thus far, background checks have been run on only about 20,000 passenger vehicles – and out of these, the permits of 3,000 autos and taxis besides 2,500 buses had to be cancelled because the address could not be verified.
How miniscule these numbers are can be understood when posited with the fact that the capital has more than 1.1 lakh auto rickshaws, 15,000 buses and 43,000 taxis.
Police verification
The Delhi government had ordered the transport department to run police verification on all school bus staff, but the task is still pending. It also turned out that 80% of the private chartered buses in the city are used by private schools. So, the school bus staff is not employed by the schools but by the bus owners.
