A Fortnight On, Maninagar Rly Station Loses All-Women Tag

A fortnight ago, Maninagar railway station was declared as Gujarat’s first all-women railway station. However, the pride associated with the announcement seems to be quite short-lived.

Problems that popped up

Keeping in account the concerns expressed by staff members regarding their safety and fatigue, around 16 commercial staff members were sent back to their previous posts. Besides this, they were also facing a lot of problems as they commuted to work from far-flung areas.

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The railway officials are planning to intersperse the remaining female crew members with male employees. They have taken this step as they don't have enough female staff to run the station smoothly.

The decision to put Ahmedabad Division on the map was a sudden one and now it seems to have backfired. According to sources, this has happened due to the railways own misgivings and failure to ascertain the viability of such a station.

Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) of Ahmedabad Division VK Tailor told Mirror, “This was just a pilot project and the staff was reassigned to ensure no untoward incidents take place.”

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Mirror spoke to Jayashree Pillai, the station superintendent of Maninagar station. He said, “Working here is not a problem. It is just that people come here from far off places. Some employees in the first shift, who had to come in 5 am and those in the second shift who had to stay back till 11 pm, were facing problems. So female members of the commercial staff are going. However, I am still posted here.”

Banaswadi railway station in Karnataka grappled with the same issue after being declared an all-women station on March 8.

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