Safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities initiated

New Delhi: The Central government on Wednesday began a process of formulating a comprehensive safe city plans for women in eight metropolitan cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

The process was started in the Steering Committee meeting constituted by the Home Ministry under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and attended by Municipal Commissioners, Police Commissioners, senior state government officials and civil society representatives. 

"It was decided that police and municipal corporations of these eight cities will frame a plan of action. The plan will be forwarded by the respective state-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the state and the plan of action to be submitted by these cities within a month will be assessed by the Steering Committee, which will make suitable recommendations," a Home Ministry statement said. 

During the meeting, Gauba 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. 

The issues reviewed in the meeting included 33 per cent reservation of women in 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. 

"The initiatives taken by these cities for women's safety were also discussed in detail. These initiatives include Himmat App, All Women Patrol Van, Shishtachar programme of Delhi Police, SHE teams, Hawkeye Mobile App and Bharosa programme of Hyderabad police, Suraksha App of Bengaluru police and Power Angels of Uttar Pradesh Police. 

"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 statement said. 

The Home Secretary said that independent analysis and feedback system should be institutionalised to assess the perception of women on ground regarding their safety issues and emphasised on "targeted intervention" by police and civil administration for larger impact on women's safety. 

He also stressed on the need for Integrated Command and Control Centres and on collaborative monitoring by police and privately installed CCTV cameras, saying "this integration should be in a time-bound and phased manner".