Western Railway proposes that coaches reserved for dabbawalas and the handicapped should be converted into ladies' coaches to address their long-standing grouse of less seats allotted to them <table style="width: 103px; height: 42px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="103" align="right" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img alt="" src="/imagedata/2010/nov/gardi.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr> <td> Packed like sardines: Women commuters had been complaining about the stagnant number of seats despite the rise in the number of commuters over the past two decades. FILE PIC</td></tr></tbody></table>If a recent proposal by the Western Railway officials finds merit with authorities, first class lady commuters will get more seats on the western line, but at the expense of the dabbawalas and the handicapped. After MiD DAY's report that lady passengers have been complaining of less seats reserved for them in the city's locals (Give us more space: lady commuters, October 18), senior WR officials have decided to review the rakes. They have proposed to convert coaches reserved for the luggage and the handicapped into ladies coaches. "We have already sent a letter to the Divisional Railway Manager asking for more space to lady commuters in trains. If all goes well, ladies will have more space by next year and this time in the 15-car rakes also," said a senior WR official. The idea, naturally, hasn't gone down very well with associations of dabbawalas and the handicapped who think the railways is meting out a raw deal to them.u00a0 If things work out, ladies will have 33 per cent more seats for them in the 9-car and 12-car rakes and 66 per cent more in the 15-car rakes. The official justified the move by saying, "Space in the locals has become a serious concern. The number of female commuters has now increased to almost 10 times over the last two decades." The first class women's seats in WR continue to be 50 in 9-car, 12-car as well as in 15-car rakes. But the handicapped association applies the same logic to justify why the movies unfair. "Patients with cancer and other terminal diseases, and pregnant women also travel in the coaches reserved for handicapped," said Pradip Anjaria, president of the Disability Advocacy Group, "What about us then? The railways have been biased against us. The number of handicapped passengers has also increased." If the authorities convert handicapped coaches to female coaches, "We will protest," Anjaria added. A group representing dabbawalas, called Nutan Dabbawala Association, isn't too happy either. "There should be some alternative for lady commuters. Why don't they attach another coach especially for ladies? We work for a few hours in the morning and afternoon and we want the coach reserved only for us," said the president of the association, Raghunath Medge. Other than that, the dabbawala association has already sent a letter to the railways asking to give them their luggage coach back. Medge said that, initially, the luggageu00a0 coach was exclusively reserved for dabbawalas, but now everyone uses it. Chief PRO, WR, Sharat Chandrayan, said, "We are in the process of reviewing the coaches. We will see about the utilisation by all parties involved."u00a0 Meanwhile, the Central Railway has reserved 10 more seats for first class female commuters in 12-car trains, taking the number of seats to 36. And unlike WR, it will not review the rakes as yet. Chief PRO, CR, S Mudgerikar, said, "We have already taken care of the female commuters' needs. If required, we will take a further feedback from commuters. We are already running eight ladies' special trains along with six partially reserved ladies' trains." He added that, as of now, CR is not thinking of converting the luggage and the handicapped coach into ladies' compartments.

'Our political   careers are over'

Western Railway proposes that coaches reserved for dabbawalas and the handicapped should be converted into ladies' coaches to address their long-standing grouse of less seats allotted to them

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