Must have a coordinated effort to ensure women's safety: LG

New Delhi: With an aim to ensure women safety in the Capital, Lieutenant-Governor (LG) Anil Baijal emphasised that all stakeholders must have a focused and coordinated effort. The LG reiterated to take adequate measures including increase in patrolling by PCR vans, minimisation of response time, improvement of lighting in every nook and corner, installation of GPS in public transport, reducing use of acid for toilets, developing of mobile application to register complaint against errant auto/taxi drivers, etc.

"The Capital city cannot have an unsafe atmosphere for women," said Baijal. While chairing a meeting of Special Task Force on Women Safety on Friday, he also urged all concerned to work towards the common cause of a Delhi that is safe for women.

Stressing on the need for a change in mindset as well, Baijal directed the departments to keep up their efforts for generating awareness and sensitization. On the issue of increasing patrolling by PCR vans to reach within the designated time in response to a distress call made to Delhi Police, it was informed by Joint CP (Traffic) that the average time taken is 5 -10 minutes and efforts are underway to reduce it further. Currently 600 PCR vans are already deployed and a comprehensive proposal for 541 PCR vans with creation of 7,723 posts of these (private vehicle) PVs is under consideration.

Regarding improvement of lighting in public places, North MCD informed that about 90 percent of the identified dark spots have been illuminated, South MCD informed that it has provided lights on approximately 17,365 dark spots. LG directed to further strengthen the system to identify the dark spots. Regarding status of GPS installation in Public Transport, L-G directed take action against those vehicles i.e. auto/taxi in which GPS are not functioning in addition to cancellation of driver's license. He also directed to create an 'app' to register complaints against auto/taxi driver who refuse to go by meter. Regarding use of acid in public toilets and other places Baijal directed all Municipal Corporations and government agencies to stop use of acid for cleaning by January-end.