RPF to help pregnant women get seats

If you don't offer your seat to an expectant woman, travelling in a packed general compartment of a long-distance train, out of courtesy you will be forced to do so

RPF to help pregnant women get seats

If you don't offer your seat to an expectant woman, travelling in a packed general compartment of a long-distance train, out of courtesy you will be forced to do so.

Aaram ka mamla hai: Expectant mothers will no longer have to battle
hordes of people rushing into the trains. File pic

For, RPF personnel deployed at stations have been instructed to ensure that expectant women standing in the long queues to enter the general compartments get seats.

"If a pregnant woman has to travel in a general compartment in some emergency, it becomes a nightmarish journey for her. Fellow passengers in the jam-packed coaches often refuse to offer their seats, as they get to occupy them after a lot of struggle. I have been helping needy women get seats for a long time, but I will be able to help them more confidently now," said an RPF inspector.

"More and more people, who can afford to buy first-sleeper class tickets, are forced to travel in general compartments as the Tatkal seva or emergency ticket service has apparently become redundant. It always remains overbooked," said Sunita Kumari, who is three months pregnant.

Sunita, who had to rush to her hometown in Bihar to attend her father's funeral, recounted her horror.
"After getting the news of my father's sudden demise, I frantically tried to get a confirmed ticket, but to no avail. Finally, I decided to board the general compartment. I knew that people had become heartless, but during my 48-hour journey I got to know that they had they their hearts in the wrong place. None of them were courteous enough to offer me a seat and I finally had to sit on the floor.

When I got down at Patna station, I was taken to a hospital. I could not see my father's face for the last time." Passengers might have become "heartless", but the RPF personnel will now leave no stones unturned to ensure that courtesy towards women does not become a thing of past. P C Sinha, senior divisional security commissioner, Central Railway, said, "We have instructed our men to ensure that women passengers get seats. They (pregnant women) can approach our men to help them get a seat."

Railway quota
Railways have made special arrangements for women passengers in long-distance trains -- six berths in sleeper class in mail and express trains are reserved for women. Two lower berths in each sleeper, AC 3-tier and AC 2-tier coaches have been reserved for senior citizens, female passengers over the age of 45 and pregnant women.