Lingerie in the local

Families, passengers on Churchgate-bound train get an unpleasant shock; LCD screens in gents compartment show women parading skimpy underwear

Families, passengers on Churchgate-bound train get an unpleasant shock; LCD screens in gents compartment show women parading skimpy underwear

The Churchgate-bound local that was first showing the explicit commercials on Friday (right), which were blanked out on Saturday Pics/Uday Devrukhkar and Datta Kumbhar

On Friday, commuters on a Churchgate-bound local train were shocked to see explicit ladies lingerie commercials shown on the LCD television screen mounted in the train. Though some in the hundred-odd male commuters enjoyed the slots, many amongst them with family and children were taken aghast.

MiD DAY staffer Uday Devrukhkar, who was in the train, narrates his experience:u00a0

"I boarded the Churchgate-bound local from Jogeshwari at 1.52 pm on Friday. I was happy to see the television set in my train and thought I'd get good entertainment as they were showing movie clippings and a few messages. Everyone was excited and watching it. Suddenly, I saw a ladies undergarment ad playing on it and I felt very awkward. There were lady passengers too, who I could see, were embarrassed after watching the ads. By the time I reached Lower Parel station, the ad was repeated twice. I feel this was a wrong step on the part of railway authorities. Showing these kinds of ads in a public place is shameful, because the railways are a public undertaking."

Cheap tactic

The basic idea behind installing the television sets in locals is to inform commuters about their rights and provide them with the general information. But instead of the promised information, commuters are being served crude commercials set to tinkling music, bordering on soft porn. It's quick, easy money for the railways and they are succumbing to it.

Railway activist Bhavesh Patel says, "The railways have again proved that they are only interested in making money. They do not care about the commuter's convenience. LCD screens were installed with an objective to provide general information to commuters, but I have not seen any LCD inside the local or put up in front of the ticket window at stations."

The LCD screens were inaugurated on January 6 this year. The idea was mooted by Western Railways in March 2007, on the lines of the Shatabdi Express.u00a0

Railway Yatri Sangh president Subhash Gupta clearly says that it's a cheap mode of earning money. "It seems that the railways haven taken an oath to earn money at any cost. They just want to take the credit of earning the highest profit. If they continue doing this, we will protest," he says, adding that being such a reputed and old organisation, railway authorities should monitor these things personally.

'No idea about ads'

Each coach has six LCD screens, which means a nine-car train will have 54 and a 12-car train has 72 LCD screens.

However, authorities were unaware about the offensive video being shown on locals. S S Gupta, Chief PRO, WR says, "I have no idea about this advertisement. I will check it and immediately stop it from playing. It is not possible for us to check each and every video that advertising agencies have planned to play. Our commercial staff and inspectors randomly monitor it. We have already restricted objectionable ads like smoking and drinking." He also adds that he will try to monitor the ads that will be played in future.

This is the first time that television sets have been installed in local trains. Initially, the railways planned to run public awareness messages, security alerts, advertisements, SMS jokes, travel clips and other commuter-related information.

No values

Madhu Kotian, president of the Rail Pravasi Sangh, says, "They should not show these kind of ads in locals. How come the authorities are not monitoring the ads before showing it to the public? They don't have any values and are only interested in making money. We will protest."

Senior consultant and sexologist Dr Mukesh Shah reasons that such ads give rise to crime. "When someone is going to work and sees these kinds of ads in the morning, his focus will change. It's a human tendency. He starts thinking of sex. On the one hand, the railways are trying to provide security to female commuters and on the other, they are showing such shameful ads in public places."

Commuter speak

Zeenath D'souza, Andheri resident: "I have not seen the LCD screens in local trains, but showing ladies undergarments ads in the gents compartments is shameful. We don't expect this from the authorities like the railways."
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Prashant Golecha, Malad resident and a PR consultant: "It's very cheap and unacceptable. It should not be done. All age groups travel by the local train. Crime rates have been increasing and this will only make it higher."

Pritesh Tailor, B Com final year student from Lokhandwala: "It's bad to show these kind of ads in public transport. The advertising agency that dared to show this should be banned. They are playing with people's emotions. It's ridiculous."

Divya Santhosh, regular commuter: "In the current situation, it becomes embarrassing to get into the gents compartment and after these kinds of ads, we have to hide somewhere. Railways should think that school kids and families also travel by train. How can they allow the advertising agency to play such rubbish content?"

LCD screens in 67 trains
>>LCD screens were installed in the WR locals on January 6. OOH media company Hype Integracomm has entered into a private-public partnership with the Western Railways in Mumbai to install LCD screens in 67 trains. WR will get a license fee of Rs 35 crore for the duration of the five-year contract.

>>Western Railway (Churchgate to Dahanu Road) ferries more than 2.6 million passengers per day, which is almost 43 per cent of Mumbai's total suburban rail traffic.

>>The network of these screens, named 'Smile TV', will relay a mix of entertainment, information and advertising for 18 hours a day in all the WR trains.