New Delhi:
The rape of a woman passenger, allegedly by a driver of radio cab service Uber in Delhi last month, had shocked the nation and raised questions about the lack of safety for women in the capital.
The Delhi police then floated the idea of a fleet of cabs, driven by women and catering to women passengers, as a measure to make Delhi's roads safer.
But only one radio cab service - Meru - responded to the suggestion, said a senior police official.
Meru Eve, a fleet of cabs driven by women, was launched today. Women passengers will, of course, be given preference, but male passengers can also avail the service.
"The incident last month forced us to think how we can travel more safely. And 40 per cent of passengers are women. Right now we have 25 women drivers, but we aim to have 250 in the near future," said Meru CEO Sidharth Pahwa.
An all-women team will manage the back-end services of Meru Eve.
But police authorities and Meru officials seem to have a common concern: what about the safety of these women drivers?
The cabs will be equipped with panic buzzers, pepper spray, GPS enabled phones and emergency numbers. The numbers of police station house officers will be prominently displayed inside the cabs.
Delhi police commissioner B S Bassi, who launched the cab service said today, said, "We have provided three days of self-defence training to these female drivers. But of course that's not enough. If they face any problem or harassment on the roads, they can approach our control room, which will help them. "
For now, the cabs driven by women will only operate between 6 am and 9 pm, said Major Vikrant Khare, deputy CEO of Meru.
"We are indeed skeptical about the safety infrastructure in Delhi, which is why we have initially advised the women to drive between 6 am to 9 pm in the capital. Later on, we can expand it to late night hours, if needed," he said.
25 women drivers is nowhere enough to cater to the millions of women passengers in the city, admitted a police official.
"We are open to having as many female drivers on the roads of Delhi as possible. When we floated the idea, we wanted more radio cab services to come forward; but we got response only from one," he said.