Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Monday demanded the installation of GPS on all public transport, expedited installation of lights at dark spots and measures to ensure checks on the storage and sale of acid.
Presiding over the 4th meeting of the Task Force on Women Safety Issues at Raj Niwas, the interaction was attended by the Chief Secretary, Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, Principal Secretary (Home), Commissioner of the Delhi Police, Special CP (Women Safety), Principal Secretary (PWD), representatives of municipal bodies and other government officials concerned.
According to Raj Niwas, the L-G was told that efforts were underway to reduce the average time taken to address distress calls made to the Police Control Room, which was currently between 5 to 10 minutes, even as a proposal to procure 541 PCR vans with adequate number of staff was under process.
Regarding underage drinking, Raj Niwas said that the Commissioner (Excise) was directed to submit monthly data to the Finance Department specifying the number of violations detected and action taken.
Lighting in public spaces
“Regarding improvement of lighting in public places, it was informed that about 90% of the identified dark spots had been illuminated and the remaining shall be illuminated in addition to being integrated with the central database centres,” Raj Niwas said in a statement.
With regard to making the police helpline and women’s helpline more effective, the L-G was informed that police mobile apps were being continuously upgraded and efforts are under way to bring them onto a single platform.
Mr. Baijal observed that GPS monitoring in all public transport was a must and a timeline should be drawn in this regard. He also directed that a Standard Operating Procedure be formulated for a coordinated approach to weed out the menace of illegal storage and sale of acid.
Amend the rules
“The L-G asked all the stakeholders to devise mechanisms for analysing the causes of acquittal in sexual assault cases and also asked the Home Department to explore the processes that would provide for maximum punishment under the rules, especially in cases of rapes of minors and, if needed, to also explore the possibilities to amend the rules in this regard so that this may act as deterrent,” the statement added.
