In connection with the International Women’s Day on Saturday, Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMR) and Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC) would jointly organise an exclusive women’s cycling event.

The event will start from Gachibowli Bike station (opp Bio-diversity Park) at 7 a.m. on Saturday and will be flagged off by former chief secretary and member, Central Administrative Tribunal, Minnie Mathew.

Stating that women empowerment is an important part of the social agenda of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project, HMR managing director NVS Reddy said that HMR would organise many more awareness campaigns to sensitise the city towards gender equality.

Further, to encourage parents from poorer sections to send their girl children to schools and colleges; and to enable girl students, women employees and housewives to travel to their educational institutions, work places and other destinations without fear of eve teasing and other anti-social activities, HMR has incorporated several security features in the Metro Rail project design to provide safe, comfortable, secure and hassle-free travel for women.

They include deployment of police personnel with women police in coaches and station areas; CCTV cameras, continuous monitoring of happenings, remote policing; bright illumination of coaches and station areas; provision of feeder buses with security arrangements for women to safely reach home and work place from metro stations; protecting women from harassment by drunken men and anti-social elements especially during night time; extension of Metro skywalks to nearby schools, colleges and shopping areas and provision of rest rooms and emergency medical facilities for women.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / March 08th, 2014