Students conduct safety audit at railway stations

A group of college students conducted a safety audit of Andheri railway station on Thursday. Collaborating with Safecity, an NGO, the students conducted the audit at three railway stations on the Western line.

"Many commuters face sexual harassment while traveling in local trains, or crowded platforms. But they don't think about reporting it. Even I faced sexual harassment in the first class compartment at Andheri station but I could not think of complaining. Even today, many women face difficulty to complain," said Keya Shah, a college student who was one of the volunteers conducting the audit.

"I had faced sexual harassment while travelling but at that moment we don't really understand what action should we take. There should be safety measures taken by the authority for the commuters," said an 18-year-old college student on the condition of anonymity.

The objective of the audit is to assess the railway stations with the regard to the safety of commuters and the existing infrastructure. 

Vandita Morarka, a member of Safecity, said, "We will be communicating with commuters of all genders at the stations to understand the occurrence of sexual harassment at these stations. We are also conducting infrastructure audit. The analysis of the data will be given to the railway authority, government officials and other stakeholders who can help in improving the facilities for commuters."

"I feel that Andheri station is safe. I haven't come across any harassment at the station. We should be aware of the helpline number in case of emergency so that we can reach out to authorities on time," said 16-year-old Sonali Paikrao. The first safety audit was conducted on Wednesday at Goregaon.

STUDENT EFFORT

• According to the transgenders, they mainly face issues such as lewd comments, sexual invitations while commuting on the train.
   
• Earlier this year, the students along with Safecity conducted an audit at Bandra, Kurla, and CSTM railway stations.