Aam Aadmi Party announces launch of panic buttons on 5 buses

Days after a Delhi University student posted a video of a man masturbating on a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus creating a mass uproar in the Capital, the Arvind Kejriwal-led state government announced the launching of panic alarm buttons on the eve of International Women's Day on Wednesday.

It is after three years in government that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had made women safety in public transport a poll promise, has finally launched panic buttons in five state-run buses on a pilot basis. The pilot project has been launched in five cluster buses of Rajghat-2 depot and plying on route 522.

"There will be four panic buttons in every bus for women safety. Bus marshalls, CCTV cameras and panic buttons to ensure a three-line women safety in buses. We have already deployed bus marshalls in all DTC buses and installed CCTV cameras in 200 DTC buses on a pilot basis. By March 2019, we will be scaling up all these three initiatives to cover all DTC and cluster buses," said Kailash Gahlot, the transport minister.

The project has been implemented in collaboration with a Bengaluru-based NGO, Project Durga, working in the area of women safety.

"All the bus crew members (drivers and conductors) in the pilot project have been trained in operating and responding to the panic alarm system," said a senior official.

The protocol for the alarm will include onboard announcements and LED display boards that the bus is equipped with a panic alarm system.

"Each of these buses has four panic buttons to cover the entire length. If any of the alarms is pressed, a loud beeping alarm will be activated for 40 seconds, during which time it cannot be deactivated," he said.

Upon hearing the alarm, the driver will take the bus to the left-most part of the road and bring it to a halt. The conductor will see exactly where the alarm was pressed from and will swing into action.

"In case the situation is addressed on the spot, the conductor will immediately call the depot manager, who will intimate PCR van," the officer said.

The panic alarm system will also be integrated with the bus GPS location, so that every time the alarm is pressed, the depot manager and Central Command Centre of cluster bus operations at DIMTS Kashmere gate get an immediate alert.

The DTC fleet has around 5,400 buses while there are 1,600 cluster-run buses, which are managed by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS).

While the government maintains that CCTV cameras were installed on 200 buses on the Sarojini Nagar and the Rajghat depots, the records of footages from these buses are not available with the Central Control Room managed by the transport department.

The AAP government has around 2800 marshalls to be deployed on DTC buses in two shifts during the day, however, it is difficult to spot them on duty. Besides, the marshalls have not got any training to have a network with the police and are neither armed with a weapon.

"The home guards were given basic training as bus marshalls. However, they do not have a network or access to the police, there is no weapon and also they are not sensitised for acting against such crimes. What can still help create a deterrent are good quality CCTV cameras having a face-recognition feature," said an official, not wanting to be named.