Although it has been four days since she safely returned to her home in Ghaziabad, the abduction of Dipti Sarna has caused a stir and sparked off another debate pertaining to the safety of women-commuters in Ghaziabad.
Dipti, 24, an employee of Snapdeal, would travel to her office in Gurgaon every day and board from the Vaishali Metro Station in Ghaziabad. The metro station sees men and women of all ages boarding trains to reach their colleges or work places almost through the entire day. However, the recent abduction of Dipti has left a few daily commuters apprehensive about boarding the auto rickshaws near the metro station.
Shubhangi Agarwal, a resident of Ghaziabad who is a student at the University of Delhi told The Hindu , “Ever since the incident, my family has asked me not to take shared autos and only hire the private ones. A few days ago, I boarded an auto and the auto rickshaw driver’s brother also sat inside. I and my friends stepped down that very moment and asked him to leave or we’ll take another auto. We have become very frightened and alert in the past few days.”
Though Metro has brought residents closer to the Delhi NCR, the problem begins the moment one comes out of the sanitised environs of Metro stations. The only option for last mile connectivity available near Metro stations in Ghaziabad is the shared auto-rickshaws. Even though women don’t feel safe travelling in these shared auto-rickshaws, there are no other options available. One can book an entire auto-rickshaw after shelling out a hefty amount but even that warrants no safety.
A few people have stopped getting down at the Vaishali metro station altogether in light of the incident. Tisa Majumder, who is also a student at the University of Delhi, said, “I have been getting off at the Kaushambi metro station for some days now. I then take an auto from there to my home. Even though it takes me longer to get home this way, it’s a lot safer than taking an auto from Vaishali.”
While safety tops the list of concerns for most commuters, some like Julie Kalyali Panda, a teacher at a school in Ghaziabad said, “I have personally never faced any safety issues while travelling in an auto to the Vaishali Metro station. I find the area pretty safe.”
Illustration: Santan (The Hindu) 
