VIJAYAWADA: Director General of Police (DGP) D Gautam Sawang on Monday said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women Empowerment headed by Dr Heena Vijay Kumar Gavit, which visited Visakhapatnam on Saturday, extended its support to get the Disha Bill ratified by the Centre as early as possible.
During an interaction with TNIE on Monday, Sawang said the committee, which is on a tour to study the prevailing conditions on women safety in States and the facilities being provided to women by police, congratulated the AP police for taking up various women safety initiatives on a top priority.
The committee members said they were impressed with the Disha police station and other programmes launched by the State government for the protection and security of women. Heena and other members had an interaction with Visakhapatnam city police commissioner Manish Kumar Sinha and Disha DIG B Raja Kumari on Saturday and appreciated the innovative measures such as setting up of women police stations.
The DGP said Heena expressed shock when she came to know that the Disha Bill, which was sent to Centre for ratification, is pending and assured that the committee will recommend the concerned officials
to get it passed at the earliest. She promised that all the women safety initiatives taken up by the Andhra police will be mentioned in their detailed report to be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
“We generally talk about fast-track courts. But in AP, most of the cases are being concluded in less than 21 days. After seeing this kind of initiative, I am really happy and we will definitely take lessons from this when we go back to Delhi and we will see what more we can do at the pan-India level,” Heena added.
‘Avoid row on Bill’
The DGP urged all political parties to refrain from making baseless allegations on Disha Bill.
“Through the Disha mobile application, we have received 3,68,771 petitions and 589 FIRs have been registered. I request all political leaders not to spread rumours on Disha Bill. Opposition leaders need to see the brighter side of the Disha instead of criticising the Bill because it is pending with the Centre,” Sawang requested.