‘Safe city’ plans for women in 8 metropolitian cities to commence

New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday chaired a meeting to kickstart the process of formulating comprehensive safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities including - Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The plan will be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners, senior state government officials and civil society representatives attended the steering committee meeting constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

During the meeting, the Home Secretary took a comprehensive review of the progress made and steps taken by the police and civil administration of these eight metropolitan cities regarding women's safety.

Various issues reviewed included 33 per cent reservation of women in the police, installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of women in police stations, emergency response system, police verified public transport, prevention of cyber crime, infrastructure issues, mapping of dark spots and crime-prone areas and involvement of educational institutions, among others.

These initiatives include Himmat App, All Women Patrol Van, Shishtachar programme of the Delhi Police, SHE teams, Hawkeye Mobile App and Bharosa programme of the Hyderabad Police; Suraksha App of the Bengaluru Police and the power angels of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

The steps taken by other metro cities included mobile counselling vans for hearing the grievances of women, lighting in the sub-urban 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.

It was also brought to the notice that the police representatives were taking steps in the direction of implementing the target of 33 per cent reservation of women in police and gradually moving towards the set target.

The use of social media platforms for women's safety was also emphasised during the meeting. The representatives also discussed various measures which can reduce the response time and thus ensure better results.

"Independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalised to assess the perception of women on ground regarding their safety issues. Their feedback and suggestions on various issues can also be incorporated after independent survey and our approach to women's safety can thus be fine tuned," the union home secretary said.

He also emphasised on 'targetted intervention' by the police and civil administration, which will have larger impact on women's safety.

It was decided that the police and municipal corporations of these eight cities would frame a plan of action, wherein, it would be forwarded by the respective state level committee headed by the chief secretary of the state.

The plan of action to be submitted by these cities within a month will be assessed by the Steering Committee headed by the Union Home Secretary, who will make suitable recommendations.

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