First time in India, a traffic signal in Mumbai's Dadar has displayed a female pedestrian signage in a bid to promote gender equality. Maharashtra's Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray shared the information on social media. The modification in the traffic signal signage system for gender equality will be done at 13 junctions on Veer Savarkar Marg, earlier called Cadell Road, in the city's G/North Ward, with the first having come up at Dadar, a civic official said.The stretch has 120 signals between the renowned Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi and Mahim police station, he added. The road is popular as the cultural spine of Mumbai and the move is part of its "pedestrianisation", G/North Ward Assistant Municipal Commissioner Kiran Dighavkar told PTI on Sunday.
The idea of modifying the signal signage was among many suggested by experts, and with this, Mumbai will join some cities that will be overhauling its traffic signal signage system, he added. "The permission to make the changes were given by the city traffic police to the BMC on July 17, officials added. Cities like Geneva in Switzerland, and Germany's Dresden, Cologne and Zwicko have female figures alongside male ones as part of the signage, officials said. Among the more famous ones is the pony-tailed female figure called "Sofie" installed in Amersfoort in the Netherlands in 2000, while Vienna in Austria installed same-sex ones in 2015.