New Delhi: Delhi Commission for Women has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately decentralise the ‘Nirbhaya’ fund to states so that it can be effectively used to curb crimes against women.
DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal, in a letter, said ten months ago, the Transport Department of Delhi government had sent a proposal for using Nirbhaya funds for installing CCTV cameras in DTC buses and cluster buses in Delhi. However, the central government rejected it by stating that it was ‘gender neutral’ and not ‘gender sensitive’ which was an “absurd and illogical” decision.
She said the same proposal was made in the meeting of the Special Task Force on women safety in the Union Home Ministry and supported the proposal of Delhi Government. However, the proposal has yet not been approved due to red-tapism, she alleged.
Maliwal had earlier written to the Prime Minister over the same issue in September last year where she had suggested that Nirbhaya fund must be used to install CCTV cameras in police stations across the country, create one-stop centres, provide financial and livelihood-related support to rape, acid attack and other victims. She had also suggested using the fund to prevent human trafficking and for rehabilitating its victims.
In her earlier letter, the Chairperson drew the Prime Minister’s attention to the fact that if a woman is rescued from brothels like in GB road, she is sent to shelter homes which are again in a pathetic condition.
Maliwal said she had visited one such shelter home -Nari Niketan—and believed that the fund can be used to ameliorate the conditions of women in these shelter homes.
“I am confident that the Prime Minister will hear the voice of the women and girls in Delhi and immediately take necessary steps to properly utilise the Nirbhaya fund,” she said in her letter.
The Supreme Court had questioned Narendra Modi-led government on Thursday for sitting on the Rs 3,000-crore Nirbhaya fund and sought to know its plan for the devolution of the fund to the states.
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