G Plus Volume 1 Issue 45

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4 City G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014 Women bus Despite the low turnout, ten more city buses, customised exclusively for women are likely to be added, with the authorities determined to make the service a success. service to continue mrinmoyee hazarika After stalling the much anticipated city bus service started exclusively for women last month for two days in a row, the government has vowed to ensure the smooth continuation of the same in the future. Following the hitch, the regional transport authority, Kamrup (M) has resumed the all women city bus service again announcing to add ten more customised city buses to the existing lot which will be imported from outside the state. “One of the reasons for discontinuation of the women city bus service for a brief period was the lack of adequate passengers. Therefore, now the transport department has introduced one new route where there is more possibility of getting more number of women passengers and the department promises to continue the service in the city,” Dwijen Das, secretary of the Kamrup regional transport authority who retired from active service last Thursday (31st July, 2014) said. Das also cited that another reason for the unfortunate incident of cessation of the service though for a short period was the festival of Eid. Most of the drivers and other staffs had taken off days because of the festival and the women bus service got affected. “But, now we hope that this type of situation will not be created again and another ten buses exclusively for women will likely be added by 15th August. These new customised buses will be painted with blue and white coloured stripes for easy identification,” Das mentioned. Currently, 10 all-women city buses, which include six privately owned and four government run ASTC buses, are plying in two different routes of the city. The four ASTC buses are running on the existing route from Khanapara to Kachari via Ganeshguri, Bhangagarh, Paltan Bazaar, Panbazar Pani tanky and back via Md Tayabulla Road, District Library, Reserve Bank, Panbazar over bridge and Paltan Bazaar. The remaining six private buses are running on the new route from Basistha Chariali to Gauhati University via Zoo road, Chandmari, Handique college and Maligaon. Besides, the timing of the buses have also been changed. The buses are now plying between 8am and 8pm within a gap of half an hour, instead of the pervious timing of between 7am and 11am and 3pm and 8pm. The buses are equipped with CCTV cameras and each one has a three-member staff that includes a driver and two conductors, all of them are women. “It is very hard to get skilled drivers, be it male or female. To solve this problem, we have come up with some new suggestions and request the unemployed youths to come forward and cooperate with us,” Gautam Das, DTO, (Registration and Licensing), Kamrup (M) said. Regarding the initiatives taken up by the transport department to engage skilled drivers into the profession of driving commercial vehicles, Gautam Das stated that the department is asking primarily for four categories of people to come forward. They are – persons holding a driving license for a year, persons with the educational qualification up to eighth class, people who have completed the age of 20 and educated unemployed persons. “We will provide training to those people and after completion of the training they will be provided with a certificate. The certificate holders will be eligible to drive commercial vehicles,” Gautam Das said. Zerifa Wahid (Actor) The brand ambassador of the initiative as well as noted Assamese actor Zerifa Wahid has urged the womenfolk of the city to use the all women bus service. Appealing the women of all walks of life, Wahid said, “The buses may not attract passengers initially, but things will improve. We have to applaud district transport officials for providing safe transportation for women. They are doing it on an experimental basis and we need to provide support” She further stated, “It is illogical to ask all the women to board on the all-women city buses only. They have to get on the first bus they see whenever they are in hurry. But, I am requesting them to avail the service when they get the chance to” “It is very hard to get skilled drivers, be it male or female. To solve this problem, we have come up with some new suggestions and request the unemployed youths to come forward and cooperate with us,” Meghali Bora, Entrepreneur Meghali Bora, proprietor of Meghna’s Driving Training Institute which is exclusively for women also lauded the government’s initiative of introducing all-women city bus service in Guwahati. “I have been involved with the initiative from the very beginning. I have come across several clients who prefer for a lady driver especially the situation getting worst day by day as far as safety and security for the women is concerned. Besides, it will also provide a decent way to earn money for many young and courageous girls,” Meghali Bora stated. Deepali Rajkhowa, Women Bus driver Appealing the women of the city to avail the all-women city bus service, Deepali Rajkhowa, the first female city bus driver of Guwahati remembered, “I have started driving my first city bus in the year 1989, when I was just 21 years old. It was a government project for the educated unemployed and I owned a Swaraj majda and started plying it on the roads of Guwahati. Later, I bought another three buses.” Mentioning about driving vehicles like Mitsubishi Canter, she also stated, “In my experience of more than twenty years in the field of city bus service, I have never felt insecure. I can still remember driving the bus at 11 0 clock in the night, but never confronted any untoward incidences. Now, the government has taken a good initiative by starting all women city bus service in the city and the women should take the benefit of it” Though Rajkhowa, who is now a contractor by profession, had discontinued driving city buses in a year or two after she started it in the year 1989, she used to drive her own city buses whenever there was need till 2011. She also stated that apart from driving, the students in her institute are being trained in martial arts and technical knowledge related to the vehicle also. “We have also trained some girls who cannot bear the expenses of training for free. After completion of training, we help them getting job opportunities,” encouraging the girls to take up the profession with pride, Bora, who acquired a professional driving license 24 years ago said. She is also planning to launch ‘Megha Cabs’ soon, which will cater only the female passengers from different parts of city locations including the air port and railway platform. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in
G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014 5 City 12-Year Old Brutally Murdered G <strong>Plus</strong> bureau The successors of our generation, mostly tagged as ‘gennext’ are supposed to get the very best from all corners of the society. However, reality has something very contrasting in store to reveal before us. At least, the figures of cases registered by the police, of crimes against children in the country clearly describe it. Child abuse has no place in the world we weave for our children here and now. Yet, child abuse, including murdering them, is gut-wrenchingly real, leaving thousands of children scarred and bewildered, and their parents distraught and furious. Sharing the same trend like other parts of the country, Assam is no different. Another such shocking incident occurred in the state’s Kamrup (rural) district when a 12-year boy was killed after he was abducted at the Changsari area on August 4. The victim, Nipon Nath was a student of class VII and was living with his family in the Bakultala area, some 30 kms away from the city. On that evil day, a 23-year-old youth Dipjyoti Kalita, a carpenter living near Nipon’s house, lured Nipon with some candies and asked Nipon to come along with him. Since then, Nipon went missing. A huge hue and cry occurred after Nipon’s parents realised that their son had not returned home in the evening. Soon after, the whole area came to know about him going missing. Police was informed after the parents received a ransom call of Rs 10 lakh. In Assam alone at least 14 minors were killed, 80 others were abducted and 230 others were raped in 2013. “Then some of the local told police that Nipon was seen with Dipjyoti on Sunday. We immediately detained the accused and started quizzing him. Though initially he refused but soon he told police that he had killed Nipon,” Changsari police said. Immediately, police searched Dipjyoti’s house and found Nipon’s dead body squeezed inside a wooden box. With no cut marks found, police believed that he was strangulated. Dipjyoti was arrested. What came next was more shocking! It was not the first time that Dipjyoti had killed anyone. Interrogation revealed that Dipjyoti had previously killed his seven-yearold cousin Bitopan Mali and threw his body in the Brahmaputra. A huge public outcry followed. People pressed the police to hand over the culprit to them for public justice. Police had no other way but to resort to scuffle to control the mob. Locals suspected that it was not a case of simple murder but of a human organ smuggling racket. “Dipjyoti was living in a rented house of a medical practitioner Dr. Abed Ali. We believe Ali too was involved in the racket,” alleged Simanta Das, a local. Police in suspect too arrested Ali and currently interrogation is on. Dipjyoti was sent for three days of police remand by a lower court. But this is just an instance of the brutality that is even occurring in our neighbourhood. Homes, schools and all the other places where children are meant to nurture have recently become theatres of brutalization of children. In Assam alone at least 14 minors were killed, 80 others were abducted and 230 others were raped in 2013. “The stories pile up: teachers raping six-year-olds, tutors kicking three-year-olds, principals caning visually-challenged wards. It’s unspeakable brutality against the most tender and defenseless amongst us. When a particularly brutal case of abuse hits the headlines, there’s frenzied demand for instant vigilante justice but it does not address the systemic changes sorely needed to prevent child abuse. Clearly, the door has to be pushed open even more,” said Shilpi Hazarika, a student of human behaviour under the Delhi University. Syeda Ambia Zahan “We don’t want to die. There is a way to avoid death and that is by letting your organs live in someone else’s body after you and live life one more time” says Zublee Baruah, the singing sensation of Assam. In an effort to dedicate her service towards the needy section of the society, she founded the Zublee Foundation. It is aimed to be an endeavour to serve the local community with special focus on senior citizens and children and most importantly to the cause of organ donation. Around 400,000 people across the country await organ transplant Live life one more time every year but only 2 per cent of them get lucky. Around 10 lakh Indians suffer from corneal blindness and are awaiting corneal transplantation but only 38,000 corneas can be collected every year. Around 150,000 people are diagnosed with kidney failure in India every year but only around 5,000 get donors. As a result, every five minutes, one person dies of kidney failure in India. The Zublee Foundation for the first time organised an ‘Organ Donation Day’ on the 6th of August in the Assam Engineering Institute Playground with an objective of creating mass awareness on the need of donat- ing organs. “Take a pledge to donate organs and the Zublee Foundation will help you in this noble gesture” said Zublee. On the event day, riders were seen wearing T-shirts and caps featuring organ donation during a motorbike rally within the city covering a radius of 25 km. Members of the foundation and more than three hundred voluntary donors came forward to donate blood in a blood donation camp organised as a part of the programme. A public awareness meeting was also held with invited doctors wherein the different aspects of organ donation including confusion of “We will very soon install a help desk for assistance and queries where organ donor forms and membership forms will be available for joining the foundation” donors, superstitions, difficulties in acquiring organs from the donor, role of the family of the donor were discussed. Noted doctors from the city took part and delivered their lectures in this context. Noted singers like JP Das, Zubeen Garg, Dr. Mousumi Saharia and others mesmerised the audience with their encouraging songs and thus took the prospect donors a step forward to the noble cause of organ donation. “We will very soon install a help desk for assistance and queries where organ donor forms and membership forms will be available for joining the foundation” said the songstress. The Zublee foundation has not only taken initiative regarding organ donation, but it has taken up different projects to help out the senior citizens and people with disabilities. Zubee says “India has twelve million children with disabilities and only one percent of them have access to school and 80 percent of them do not live beyond the age of 40. The foundation is considering identifying such people and helping them out to live a better life.”
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