The Nirbhaya Keralam project to ensure safety of women and children has hit a wall due to lack of funds. The project was launched in the city on a pilot basis with much fanfare in August last year and was believed to be a breakthrough in improving women’s lives through community-based policing.
The pillars of the project are the 120 women volunteers from all over the city who are expected to approach city residents, hear their problems and offer solutions. The novel project, the police hoped, would encourage women to report crimes with help from the volunteers. Due to the lack of funds, however, the police are having a tough time running the project and keeping the volunteers motivated.
A volunteer said interest in the project dropped for some of her colleagues after they had to pay for their expenses out of their own pockets. “We used to have weekly meetings to discuss our progress and the cases we came across. But those had to be suspended because many stopped coming to the meetings,” said a volunteer.
Officials are concerned about the future of the project as the enthusiasm of the trained volunteers wanes.
Suspicious medicine
Even as there are concerns over the State’s liquor policy and availability of alcohol, Excise officials have come across several cases of people getting their high from ‘arishtam’ products sourced illegally. The medicines used in the Ayurveda system are legal when prescribed by Ayurveda practitioners.
“Licensed Ayurveda practitioners do not prescribe ‘arishtams’ unless they are required medically. But we have come across cases where people source these medicines illegally to get intoxicated. We register at least three to four cases each month for illegal possession of ‘arishtam,’” said Excise Assistant Commissioner M.J. Joseph.
Officials said most such cases were reported in the outskirts of the city and interior regions, raising the suspicion that illegal brewing of ‘arishtam’ may be going on in some of these places. “Some migrant labourers have also been caught while trying to take the medicines back to their home States with them,” said an official.
Nidhi Surendranath
