Lok Sabha Question No. 4677 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-28
Subject: Funds for  Women's Safety
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Eswarasamy K

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4677

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2025

## FUNDS FOR WOMEN'S SAFETY

## 4677. SHRI ESWARASAMY K:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the utilisation of Nirbhaya Fund;
- (b) whether the Government has allocated funds for safety of women in public transport, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the current status of the project along with utilisation of funds in this regard, State/UT-wise; and
- (d) whether Government has made a separate head for this project in the Annual Budget, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (d): Under the Nirbhaya Fund, upto the financial year 2024-25, a total amount of Rs 7712.85 Crore has been allocated. The total amount released by the Ministries/ Departments/ Implementing Agencies (IAs) and utilized out of the Nirbhaya fund is Rs 5846.08 Crore, which is nearly 76% of the total allocation.

An Empowered Committee of Officers (EC) constituted under the Framework for Nirbhaya Fund initially appraises and recommends the proposals for funding under Nirbhaya Fund. It also broadly reviews the physical and financial status of approved projects from time to time, in conjunction with the Ministries/ Departments/ Implementing agencies (IAs)/ States and UTs concerned. Further, the Project/ Scheme Implementing Ministries/ Departments/ States and UTs also review the progress of implementation at their own level.

The schemes/ projects under Nirbhaya Fund address the core areas of safety and security of women be it related to prevention of crime including safety in public transport or prosecution of offenders or providing  institutional  support  to  the  women  facing  violence  or  those  in  distress.  The  projects particularly focussed towards safety of women in public transport viz. rail and road transport include the  projects  being  implemented  by  Ministry  of  Railways  (MoR)  namely  Integrated  Emergency Response Management System (IERMS), Video Surveillance System at Konkan Railway, Artificial

Intelligence (AI) based Facial Recognition System (FRS) integrated with Video surveillance System including Command-and-Control Centre at 7 major railway stations and tabs for safety of woman passenger traveling alone in the train. The projects related to road transport include Vehicle Tracking Platform with command and control centre across States/ UTs, and some State specific projects like Uttar Pradesh Road transport Corporation (UPSRTC), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), etc.

In addition the initiatives/ projects aimed at ensuring safe mobility of women in public places include Women Help Desks (WHDs) in police stations (14,658 WHDs set up so far), Emergency Response Support System (ERSS-112) in all 36 States and UTs for various emergencies, a fully functional dedicated Women helpline (WHL-181) operational in 35 States/ UTs (except West Bengal) duly integrated  with  ERSS,  Safe  City  Projects  in  8  Cities  (namely  Ahmedabad,  Bengaluru,  Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai), Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) in all districts and Border Guarding Forces and One Stop Centers (OSCs), etc.

Government allocates finances under Nirbhaya Fund in a separate budget head every year. All the Ministries/ Departments/ IAs have a dedicated budget head in their own departmental budget for provision of funds as per requirement, for release after their respective projects are approved by their competent authority during the financial year.

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