Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel flagged off 100 ‘pink’ two-wheeler and 10 four-wheeler police vehicles of Pink Patrol, under the Safe City Project on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Patel said the Pink Patrol campaign of the Central and state governments was going to run for 180 days.
“We all have a responsibility towards the safety of women, it is not the responsibility of any one department or an officer. The proceedings of every case of atrocities against women should be solved on time. We should take a pledge that there would not be a single incident of crime against women,” she said.
She also said that vehicles provided by the government under the campaign should only be used for official work and not for personal purpose.
The governor extended her wishes to the nation on the occasion of Navratri.
“Today is the first day of Navratri. I wish everyone a very happy Navratri,” she said.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had approved the Safe City Project for Lucknow at a total cost of Rs 194.44 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund Scheme in November 2018.
The project is implemented as a centrally-sponsored scheme with the Centre and state government sharing the funding in 60:40 ratio.
This approval was a part of MHA’s plans to implement Safe City projects in eight selected cities, namely, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow under Nirbhaya Fund, with the purpose of strengthening safety and security of women in public places.
The major components of the Safe City Project in Lucknow include setting up an Integrated Smart Control Room, setting up Pink Outposts (exclusively administered by women police) for facilitating ease of filing complaint by women, Pink Patrols of women police, setting up of women help desks in all police stations with counsellors, augmentation of existing Asha Jyoti Kendras, implementing safety measures in buses, including cameras, improving street lighting in identified hotspot areas, setting up of pink toilets and the integration of women power-help line with single emergency number ‘112’.
The Safe City Project for Lucknow also envisages gender sensitisation awareness campaigns and capacity building in collaboration with community and civil society organisations.
