VIJAYAWADA: Ahead of International Women's Day, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a slew of measures for the safety, welfare and empowerment of women, in general, and employees in particular.
Candlelight rallies will be taken out across the State on March 7. A 10 per cent discount will be given on mobile phones purchased by women from select shopping centres on March 8 and they need to download Disha App. A special day off will be given to all women personnel in the Police Department on
March 8. Two women constables from every wing of the Police Department will be felicitated.
These decisions were taken by the Chief Minister in a review meeting of Women and Child Welfare Department held on Thursday. Jagan directed officials to set up 2,000 stands with QR codes across the State to enable women to download Disha App. He agreed to give five additional casual leaves to women employees.
A sum of Rs 5 lakh on behalf of the government was announced for the Non-Gazetted Women Employees Union. "SERP and MEPMA will sign an MoU with Hindustan Lever Limited to make sanitary napkins available in shops set up by YSR Cheyutha beneficiaries at cheaper rates compared to open market prices,'' he said.
Further, the State government will organise annual health check-up camps for Anganwadi women. Special emphasis will be laid on training of girls of Plus-1 and Plus-2 to prepare them for competitive exams. Hoardings containing details of Disha initiatives should be set up in junior colleges and higher educational
institutions. Wide publicity should be given to Disha initiatives, he said.