New Delhi: After the Nirbhaya gangrape in 2012, a fund named after Nirbhaya was granted to all the states and the Union Territories to ensure women’s safety by the then ruling UPA government. However, in the Lok Sabha, the central government has informed that five states and one Union Territory has not utilised even a single rupee under this fund so far. The details were put out following outrage in the house over the gruesome rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian in Telangana. The Telangana state, which is witnessing protests has utilised only four per cent of the fund. Delhi, which witnessed the Nirbhaya case itself has utilised a meager 5 percent of the fund.
As per the data tabled by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, as of November 2019, Rs 1,672 crore was allocated by the ministry and only Rs 147 crore has been used. More than 91% of the funds sanctioned by the home ministry remains unused. Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and UT-Diu and Daman have not utilised even a single rupee from the Rs 183 cr allocated to them. Rs 150 cr was given to Maharashtra alone, said the data.
As far as setting up ‘One Stop Centres’ to provide integrated support and assistance to wmen affected by violence is concerned, Telangana used Rs 1.38 cr out of the Rs 13.96 cr. States like Bihar, Karnataka, West Bengal, Delhi and Puducherry did not utilise any funds from the Rs 27 cr sanctioned for this purpose. States of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttarakhand have left funds of Rs 78.96 cr sanctioned by the department of justice too.
The non-lapsable corpus fund parked with the Department of Economic Affairs under the finance ministry is meant for the implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country.
