Banaswadi is first all-woman railway station in SWR zone

Bengaluru: Banaswadi railway station, which until Wednesday was just like thousands of other stations in the country, transformed into a facility run by an all-woman crew on International Women’s Day. It’s the first station in the South Western Railway (SWR) zone and the fifth in the country to achieve this distinction.
The other all-woman stations in the country are Matunga (Mumbai), Gandhi Nagar (Jaipur), Chandragiri (Tirupathi) and Ajni (Nagpur).

Henceforth, the Banaswadi station will be operated by its female staff, including the station master, booking clerks and reservation clerks. All 15 officials, including security personnel, posted at the station are now women.

Diana Thomas, who has been employed at different stations in the city for the past 19 years, feels its’s empowering. “While I did have female colleagues earlier, it is exciting to have only women around me. Even now, when we claim to be a modern nation with modern values, people doubt women’s abilities. This proves that we can do anything. Even customers were surprised when they saw so many women around. They were happy and greeted us on Women’s Day,” said the 37-year-old reservation supervisor.

Aruna S, station master, said the move will benefit women passengers too. “Since the security personnel are also women, female passengers will feel safer as many trains run at odd hours, including at midnight and early morning. Seeing female staffers around will give them a sense of security and they will find it easier to approach the personnel,” she said.

The station was declared SWR’s first all-woman facility by Union railway minister Piyush Goyal via video link.

Rallyists demand speedy justice in rape cases

Hundreds of people held a silent protest march from Mysore Bank Circle to Freedom Park on Thursday to demand speedy justice for women, starting with expediting trials of rape cases in the state.

Members of the New India Charitable Trust led the march demanding that the public and judiciary wake up to the atrocities committed against women. Since many crimes against women go unreported, the protesters claimed it was imperative to strengthen manpower and infrastructure in courts and law enforcement agencies to reduce survivors’ physical and mental agony.