DCW writes to Sushma for ministerial committee on women safety

The Delhi Commission for Women has asked the Centre to set up a high-level ministerial committee on women safety under the leadership of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
DCW chief Swati Maliwal in a letter to Union minister Sushma Swaraj said: "Indian governance structure has largely provided power of decision making to ministers and the role of implementation to the bureaucracy. That is why, the need of the hour is to form a high-level ministerial committee on women safety in Delhi comprising Union Home Minister, Delhi Chief Minister, LG, Delhi Police Commissioner and DCW.
"At present, barring a bureaucratic forum -- the Special Task Force on women's safety in Delhi -- there is no forum in Delhi for collective decision making and coordination on the issue."

She said lack of such a forum was leading to systemic logjams, indecision and stalling of crucial projects and schemes for improving women safety in the city.
The DCW chief also rued that despite highlighting the issue of upgradation of police resources, no action has so far been taken for augmenting the Delhi Police.
Referring to the issue of revising the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme, she said that on the recommendation of DCW, the Delhi government hiked the relief amount from Rs 3 lakhs to 7 lakhs and sent the file for notification to the LG in October 2015. "However, despite mounting rape cases in the national capital, the scheme is still pending notification," she said.

Maliwal also brought up the issue of land allotment by DDA for setting up fast-track courts to deal with rape cases and said that at the 12th meeting of STF on women's safety, the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government had informed that delays by DDA in land allotment resulted in stalling of six fast-track courts.
"In addition, DDA has not yet allotted land for creating a depot for DTC busses, as a result of which last-mile connectivity for women has not been increased," she said.
The DCW chief also alleged that despite making several requests, the Commission was not made part of the meetings conducted by the LG with the Delhi Police to review the law and order situation.