Adelmo Fernandes
The article “Are you safe on your bus journey?” (Herald Café, August 30) aptly brings to the fore the problems faced by women commuting in the buses in the state. The plight of the women travelling in buses is rarely highlighted and many women face the consequences silently. The very fact that buses happen to be the main mode of travelling from one city to another and from the villages to the cities make women opt to travelling by bus on a regular basis and for the working women even on a daily basis.
Overcrowding of buses is the main reason for abusive actions by the men travelling in these buses which include ogling, using abusive language, catcalls, eve-teasing, groping and even stalking. A video clip of a boy holding the hand of a lady commuter as she holds on to the overhead metal bar of the bus and falling on to the lady every time the bus driver applies the brake even slightly has gone viral. The lady was forced to get off the bus before reaching her destination. Lady commuters in Goan buses could be facing such obscene moves by men on a regular basis. To add to the problem the conductor moves from one end of the bus to the other in a crowded bus while collecting the bus-fare with many women standing along the aisle. This makes it very uncomfortable for the ladies.
The state owned Kadamba Transport Corporation has some seats reserved for women only. This is not the case with all the private buses. The situation in buses plying within the cities is all the more pathetic. The bus conductor and the bus driver in both the KTC and private buses should see to it that no such vulgar incidents take place in their buses. The police on their part needs to take prompt action whenever there is a complaint involving such incidents.
Men could be emboldened to indulge in such abusive action with the thought that they cannot be apprehended in a moving bus and that they can get off the bus at any bus-stop if the lady in question makes a noise. It should be made mandatory for men (except senior citizens and differently-abled individuals) to offer their seat to a standing lady-commuter. With so many women travelling to work on a daily basis the government should introduce ‘lady-only’ buses on the main routes during peak hours as is the case in other states.
