Street- tease fear for Gurgaon girls.

GURGAON remains unsafe for women, especially at night, despite a series of steps taken in recent months by the police.

Just a fortnight ago, a 16- year- old girl was kidnapped and raped in Sector- 84.

Police have reacted to the growing number of crimes against women by prohibiting them from working in pubs, restricting their night shift timings, asking companies employing them to ensure pick- and- drop facility, banning them from escorting single men inside pubs and ordering that bouncers be replaced by trained security guards.

But what the police have failed to address is ensuring that women are safe on the streets that lack proper lighting, public transport and police presence.

And it is in the streets that most crimes against women take place.

Gurgaon's streets have turned into a nightmare for women because the city's civic infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the growing population. This has happened because the housing needs are addressed by private developers, who are raising structures at a scorching pace. But government agencies in charge of developing the civic infrastructure have been sloppy.

A citizen group recently came up with a safety audit for women and found infrastructure a major obstacle in the way of their safety.

" Absence of proper infrastructure is the major issue facing Gurgaon's women today. Lack of street- lighting and pavements to walk on expose women to various kinds of threats. Unless these lacunae are plugged immediately, women will continue to be attacked," Rwitee Mandal, a Gurgaonbased urban designer, said.

Being a major outsourcing hub, hundreds of companies based in the city employ tens of thousands of women.

About 35,000 of them work in software and BPO consultancy services. Around 15,000 of these women, working as call centre and software executives, work night shifts.

Of the rest, many work in Gurgaon's malls and restaurants. So the very nature of their work exposes them to risk whenever they step out of their homes.

" Getting out of homes after 8 pm is a big problem for women. Though our housing colonies have good security measures, the problem arises when we step on to the main roads," Priya Choudhary, who resides in Sushant Lok, said.

The half- measures taken by the police remain ineffective.

The directive to replace bouncers with ' trained security guards' has, for example, been followed in letter but not in spirit. The same bouncer now reports to duty in uniform.

Women also don't feel safe while availing pick- and- drop cabs, thanks to frequent reports of abduction and rape by cab drivers. " Forget post- evening parties. We don't even feel safe while travelling in pick- and- drop cabs even if the company sends a security guard along. Reports of rapes by cab drivers send shivers down our spines," Sunita Biswas, a BPO worker living in Sector 14, said.

Whenever women are targeted by criminals, private companies almost immediately advertise their ' self- defence' classes and the police raid hideouts of criminals.

But the bigger problem of ensuring the safety of women on the streets remains unattended.

Women admit companies try to help, sending them to selfdefence instructors many of whom claim Fortune 500 companies as their clients. " We conduct big sessions for our corporate clients where we teach women basic self- protection techniques," Jaipreet Joshi, a self- defence trainer, said.

What the police have failed to ensure is the safety of women on streets that lack lighting, public transport and policing

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