Women commuters cheer as Rajya Sabha passes quota bill
By IANSTuesday, March 9, 2010
MUMBAI - Thousands of women commuters travelling in local trains Wednesday celebrated the first round of success of the Women’s Reservation Bill by cheering and offering flowers to other travellers at a railway station in the suburbs.
Armed with flowers, the women commuters and some others belonging to local self-help groups thronged the Ulhasnagar railway station early morning, a day after the Rajya Sabha passed the bill to reserve a third of seats in the legislatures for women.
Many of them also cheered United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Congress for keeping their election promise of passing the Women’s Reservation Bill.
“We also offered flowers to women travelling in the suburban trains. This is a major victory for women,” said Suvarna Kamble who took a few hours off for the impromptu celebrations at the railway station.
Nearly one-third of the eight million commuters travelling in Mumbai suburban trains daily are women. Over 15 years ago, the suburban network had created history by running dedicated Ladies Special trains to make their travel more comfortable and secure.
