Increase patrolling, L-G tells cops

New Delhi, Dec 1 : Delhi lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna has directed the city police to increase their presence on routes frequented by call centre cabs and be "more vigilant towards safety of women" working in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in and around the city. Following last week's rape of a female BPO employee, Khanna held a meeting with Delhi Police and representatives of 21 BPO companies in Delhi and the NCR.

"All call centre cabs should have a company-employed guard at all times. No woman employee should ever travel in the cab alone," said a spokesman from the L-G House.

The L-G after discussing the matter with the police and the BPO officials has asked Delhi Police to send awareness SMSes on women's safety on the lines of traffic advisory messages.

It was decided that from now on, more PCR vans will be manning city roads as the BPO officials insisted on more "police visibility" as a safety measure.

The L-G has also said cab drivers should not pick up strangers on the way as they may commit carjacking or other crimes. "There should be effective check and control of vehicles' movement to check the unwarranted activities of the cab drivers. The installation of GPs system and issuance of RFID cards to cab drivers to effectively check the movement of the cabs was also suggested," said the official.

Police meet with representatives

On Wednesday, the Delhi Police would meet representatives of the Northeast Support Centre and Helpline to draw up a plan for making the city safer for women from the region.

Madhu Chandra, spokesperson of the support centre, said: "A team of Delhi Police officials will come to meet me tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss how the city can be made safer for the northeastern community, especially the women."

A delegation of activists and lawyers, led by Chandra, had earlier met the joint commissioner of police (southern range), Amulya Patnaik, to press for speedy justice in the rape case as well as draw up a concrete plan of action to make the city safer for women.

Meanwhile, the northeast community in the capital submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister seeking compensation for the victim under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act) since she belonged to the ST category.

On the lines of the Monday protest at Jantar Mantar organised by Mizo Students Union and Mizo Welfare Association, a similar protest will be organised on Wednesday.

(With agency inputs)