Amid growing concerns over crime incidents against women travellers, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile app at the Western Railway building, near Churchgate station in Mumbai, on Friday.
The app, which is designed especially for women commuters, will help passengers avail immediate help from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) while traveling by local trains.
“A feeling of insecurity is increasing among women passengers. It is the responsibility of the transport agency (railways) to ensure that this feeling goes away. After taking oath as minister, the first matter posed by me in the Parliament was related to the safety of women passengers. This mobile application is an effort towards removing this feeling of insecurity,’’ said Prabhu.
The mobile app contains three features considering security of women travel lers, which includes availing immediate help from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) while traveling in Mumbai’s local trains, automatic location SMS that will be sent after two consecutive missed calls between 9 pm and 8 am from registered relative’s mobile number and a manual emergency SMS service , stating location of the user.
To avail this service, passengers need to open the M-Indicator homescreen and click on the RPF ‘safety’ icon. In the settings menu, one will need to input two emergency numbers of people who will rush in case of an emergency. Once the contacts are registered, the ‘safety’ icon will be automatically created on the mobile phone homescreen.
In case of an emergency, when a passenger clicks on the ‘safety’ icon on the homescreen, an emergency SMS will be sent to the immediate contacts and the relatives will receive your approximate location.
Prabhu also stressed on the need for better railway policing and better coordination between the RPF and GRP. After the function, Prabhu travelled to Dadar station, where he interacted with passengers.
