Sakhi centre in Warangal soon

Warangal: Sakhi Centre, a one-stop facility for women affected by violence, is coming up in Warangal. The centre is being set up by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in association with the State government. It is being established at Excise colony in Hanamkonda in a private building, said the officials here on Monday.  

The District Collector Amrapali Kata, Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu, the District Women and Child Welfare Officer E Shailaja Kumari and Additional DCP (Crimes) B Ashok Kumar along with the implementing agency Sarvodaya Youth Organisation (SYO) Secretary P Damodar visited the building to review arrangements.

They held discussions regarding facilities required at the centre. Measures should be taken to ensure cordial environment for the victims visiting the centre. For that purpose, Bharosa counselling centre being run by police department in Hyderabad should be visited for a study, the officials told the implementing agency authorities.

Since there is a provision to provide shelter to the victims the centre needs to function on shift basis. Care must be taken to work with effective coordination between police, medical and counselling wing, the officials said.

According to the SYO Secretary the centre may likely be inaugurated in the second week of February.     It may be noted that the Central government proposed to set up one-stop centres in the country after 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape in Delhi. The centre established ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore as per the announcement in 2013-14 budget for women safety pertaining to strategic areas of prevention, protection and rehabilitation.

For subsequent financial years of 2014-15 and 2015-16 an amount of Rs 1,000 crore each also been provided under the Nirbhaya Fund. The States are instructed to have at least one such centre in each district to help women victims following a recommendation by the 12th Plan Working Group on Women’s Agency and Empowerment.

Sakhi Centres will provide psycho-social support/counselling, legal aid/counselling, police assistance, medical assistance, shelter and video conferencing facility enabling the victims to appear for court hearing.

The centre will be monitored by a management committee headed by the District Collector. The management committee comprises Commissioner of police, District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) Secretary, Chief Medical Officer and others, the officials said.