Delhi Metro Gets Its First Women's Convenience Lounge

In a first, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) got a women's lounge at the Barakhamba Road Metro Station on the Blue Line. Power secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai inaugurated the 'Women's Convenience Lounge'. The lounge was set up by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) some time back and is now fully functional. It can be accessed from Gate No. 1 of the Barakhamba Road Metro Station. Chief Managing Director of PFC Rajiv Sharma, Mangu Singh, Managing Director of DMRC and other senior officials of PFC and DMRC were present during the inauguration.

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Facilities

The Women's Convenience lounge is a 100 square feet arena made with an aim to address the various challenges faced by women travellers while commuting by public transport. There is the provision of a breastfeeding facility for mothers who wish to feed their children during the journey. It is also equipped with a diaper changing kiosk and free sanitary pads vending machine. With a one-time seating capacity of six women, a woman helper would be present at all times to assist those in the lounge.

This step taken by DMRC is very helpful for women, who need to commute, on a daily basis. The real estate group Ace has volunteered to bear the responsibility of financing the initiative aimed at increasing awareness about menstrual hygiene.

There is the provision of a breastfeeding facility for mothers who wish to feed their children during the journey. It is also equipped with a diaper changing kiosk and free sanitary pads vending machine.

Initiatives on The Aqua Line

Women could avail of the much sought after facility of free sanitary pads across all 21 stations of the Noida-Greater Noida Metro, which is the Aqua Line from March 8. Moreover, two metro stations, Sector 76 in Noida and Pari Chowk in Greater Noida were designated as "pink stations". "Besides the cosmetic changes, these pink stations will have facilities like baby-feeding room, diaper-changing facilities, and a vanity-cum-changing room," an NMRC official had said. Apart from this, an all-women staff is being planned on the two metro stations. The commuters can avail the facility of free sanitary napkins from the vending machines with the help of their travel tokens.

Female-friendly Delhi Metro

The steps taken are to ensure an increase in menstrual hygiene and would lead to a surge in the number of female passengers. Apart from these initiatives, the Delhi Metro already has been quite critical of women's safety and security. The first car of a train in the moving direction is reserved for ladies and male passengers are penalized if caught commuting by these. In addition to this, earmarked seats with the required signage are reserved in other coaches for female passengers.

It is estimated that 30% of commuters are women. Hopefully, this initiative will incentivise more women to use public transport more often.

Read Also: Five good reasons why free Delhi metro rides will benefit women across society

Saavriti is an intern with SheThePeople.TV