Close to 3,000 squads dedicated to enhancing women’s safety alongside that of the neighbourhoods in which they reside are expected to come up across the Capital soon with a Cabinet proposal to this effect awaiting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s nod.
According to a senior government official privy to its contents, the proposal entails the creation of 2,800 Mohalla Suraksha Dals consisting of eight-member patrolling teams each to be deployed across each of the 70 Assembly Constituencies in Delhi “at the earliest.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government would, in the process of constituting these squads, generate employment for an estimated 22,400 unemployed youths residing in Delhi. Those constituting each such squad would be issued a uniform, a cycle, and other paraphernalia required for shift-wise patrolling duties at the areas chosen for their deployment.
“The Chief Minister was of the view that public places, especially streets, as well as public transport need to be made more secure than they are currently, and a dedicated task force for the same is the only solution,” said a senior government official.
“While the process to put these squads in place has been completed to a large degree at several constituencies across Delhi, they will initially come up in areas such as Karawal Nagar, Trilokpuri, and Shahdara,” the official further said, adding that the squad was already functional on a pilot basis at Karawal Nagar.
The promise of making Delhi safer for female citizens through these squads was among the core promises made by the AAP in its 70-point Action Plan to stake claim to forming the government last year.
Identifying it as a key area of focus for the AAP government, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had spoken of replicating these across the Capital this fiscal. “I propose an outlay of Rs. 200 crore for operationalising Mohalla Rakshak Dal throughout Delhi,” Mr. Sisodia had said.
