Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has appealed to all women and girls in the State to download the Disha app on their smart phones and alert the police in emergency.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, along with a battery of Ministers and officers, participated in an awareness drive on the Disha app at Gollapudi Panchayat Office in Vijayawada on Tuesday. He interacted with the village secretariat staff, Women Police and volunteers and enquired about the status of downloading the app in their clusters and the response from the women and girls.
“Disha app will accompany women and girls like a brother. As many as 17.65 lakh persons have downloaded the app in State till date. Woman in distress can press the SOS button in the app or just shake the smart phone and it will sent an alert to the police which will respond within no time,” said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Home Minister M. Sucharitha, Disha Special Officers Kritika Shukla and Deepika Patil were making efforts to educate women on the use of the Disha app, which has got four national awards, the Chief Minister said and asked the police, Sachivalayam staff and volunteers to join the drive.
Referring to the alleged sexual assault on a girl at the Pushkar Ghat at Seetanagaram village on the Krishna riverbank, he said the government was taking all measures to prevent such incidents. “In all, 18 Disha Mahila Police Stations have been established across the State. Special Public Prosecutors have been appointed and separate courts will be set up soon for the cases pertaining to sexual assault and harassment,” said the Chief Minister.
The government will provide more vehicles and the necessary equipment to the police and intensify patrolling in vulnerable areas, he said and asked the women police and volunteers to make door-to-door visits and explain the use of the app to women and help them download the app.
The Chief Minister said ‘Track my Travel’ is another app that tracks women through a journey and helps them reach their destinations safely. The grama volunteers explained how they were visiting houses and helping women downloading the app. Ms. Deepika Patil gave a demonstration on how to download the Disha app . Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy released a poster on the app.
Ministers Pamula Pushpa Srivani, Taneti Vanitha, Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani), Perni Venkataramaiah, State Women Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma, MLAs, MLCs, DGP D. Gautam Sawang, Women Development and Child Welfare Principal Secretary A.R. Anuradha, DIG (Tech) G. Pala Raju, Krishna District Collector J. Nivas and other officers were present on the occasion.
