Govt to launch safe-city plan for women in 8 metro cities

New Delhi, Nov 22 (UNI) Amid allegations that the Nirbhaya fund, set up after the infamous December 16, 2012, gangrape in the capital, largely remain unutilized, the Home Ministry on Wednesday initiated the process of formulating comprehensive safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities of the country.

The Union Home Secretary chaired the meeting to kick-start the process with the Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners, senior State Government officials of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad in attendance.

It was decided that independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalized to assess the perception of women on the ground regarding their safety issues. Their feedback and suggestions on various issues can also be incorporated after independent survey and the approach to women’s safety fine-tuned.

The police and municipal corporations of these cities have been asked to frame a plan of action within a month which the Chief Secretary of the respective state will send to the Steering Committee headed by the Union Home Secretary.

An elaborate review of the progress and steps taken made by the authorities of those eight cities regarding women’s safety were discussed in the meeting.

Issues like 33 per cent reservation of women in police force, installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of women, emergency response system, mapping dark spots, transports and different safety apps, developed by various State Police were also reviewed.

The steps taken by other metro cities, including mobile counselling vans for hearing the grievances of women, lighting in the suburban railway station areas, complaint boxes in the colleges, dedicated helpline for women, awareness programmes organised by the police, setting up of shelter homes for women and making provisions for street lighting were also discussed.

The representatives of Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways were also present during the meeting.

The Steering Committee for women's safety was constituted by Home Ministry under the Chairmanship of Union Home Secretary, was notified on October 31, 2017.