ROURKELA: Sundargarh police has kicked off ‘Project Durga’, an initiative to bolster security and safety of girls and make them future-ready with capacity building. The new initiative with the tagline ‘Sashakt (strong) Sundargarh, Surakhit (secure) Sundargarh’ was launched during a three-day programme at Bhawani Bhawan ground on Sunday. The launch ceremony coincided with the first day of Navratri and International Daughters’ Day.
A dedicated 24x7 ‘Naari’ helpline (9438915854) was launched in presence of DIG (Western Range) Niti Sekhar, Sundargarh SP Sagarika Nath and Ollywood actress Archita Sahoo. Self-defence and confidence building sessions will be conducted during the three-day event. Around 300 girls from the district attended the first day of the programme.
Nath said 20 schools with substantial number of adolescent girl students have been identified. A team of seven police personnel would teach basic self-defence techniques in each school for a week. The techniques include escape from hand, hair and neck grab, dupatta pulling and other form of attacks.
“Female career professionals from different spheres including civil services, judiciary, medical, sports, social work and academics have been invited to provide guidance to the girls on opportunities and importance of economic independence to face the world confidently and effectively,” the SP said.The capacity and confidence building session is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
As of now, six child-friendly prominent police stations and a special child-friendly unit are functional at Sundargarh Reserve Police Line. The SP said after third party performance audit of the child-friendly police stations, a decision would be taken to expand the initiative further.
Recently Sundargarh police had conducted nine anti-ragging sessions for college girls in Sundargarh, Rajgangpur and Birmitrapur sub-divisions.