Chandigarh January 17:
Committed towards providing a safe and secure atmosphere to women in the State, Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal has directed the departments to launch extensive campaigns throughout the year to sensitive the people towards women safety and make it a mass movement. He said that on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, besides a state level function, Pinkathon (women’s marathon run) would be organized at 100 selected places in the State in which thousands of women would participate disseminating the message of women safety.
Mr. Manohar Lal was presiding over a meeting here to review the steps being taken for ensuring women safety and security in the State. He directed the departments to closely monitor the implementation of these initiatives.
The Chief Minister said that in the year 2020, the main focus of the State Government would be on the safety, security and empowerment of women. He said that even a single incident of crime against women is alarming and to curb such incidents, besides the Government, people should also come forward to spread awareness in the society.
He directed the Police Department to launch a campaign covering schools and colleges of the State to motivate the girls to download Durga Shakti App, a mobile application launched by Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal to provide a platform to seek immediate help in times of distress. Any woman could download the app for free and seek immediate police help by simply pressing ALERT button. The Chief Minister directed that a target should be set for 10 lakh downloads of the app this year. He said that now after the success of Durga Shakti App, the Department should further move towards Durga Shakti plus and add more functionalities to make it more effective.
He further directed that a mapping of street lighting in the urban areas be got conducted by the Urban Local Bodies department to identify the dark spots so that the same could be covered by installing street lighting. This would significantly help in reducing the incident of crime against women, said the Chief Minister.
It was also informed that “All Women Police Stations” catering exclusively to women complainants have been opened in all districts of the State. As on date, 32 such police stations are operational at district and subdivision level. Each police station has the facility of Counseling Centre, Women Helpline, Women PCRs and Anti eve-teasing and Durga Shakti Rapid Action Force (DSRAF) staff and District Protection Officer.
It was informed that an arrangement of Legal Aid Prosecution Counsel for victims of rape and other crimes against women and children have been made in every Police Station. Apart from this, Women Help Desks have been established at subdivision level. Women Help line number 1091 is operational in all districts of the State. Standing orders have been issued to register crime against women within maximum one or two hour after reaching the distress women in the police station.
Among those present in the meeting included Chief Secretary Mrs Keshni Anand Arora, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr V. Umashankar, Additional Chief Secretary Transport Mr S.N Roy, DGP Mr Manoj Yadava, Principal Secretary Women and Child Development Department Mrs Deepti Umashankar, Project Director, Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates Programme Dr Rakesh Gupta, Director, Information Public Relations and Languages Department Mr P.C Meena, Secretary Finance Mrs Sofia Dahiya and other officers of the State Government.
