CM Lists Out AP’s Achievements at NIC Meet

N Kiran Kumar Reddy

New Delhi, Sept 23 (INN): Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was the first to speak at the National Integration Council meet chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh here on Monday. The Chief Minister dwelt upon the initiatives launched by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to ensure the protection and development of people in general and Women, SCs, STs, Minorities in particular.

He said that Andhra Pradesh experience has shown that with political will, courage, commitment of administration at all levels, cooperation of all stakeholders and community empowerment, communal peace and harmony can be ensured. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has evolved Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for maintenance of communal harmony, preventive actions to be taken, tackling of communal disturbances, and rehabilitation of victims of communal violence.

Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the State Government has ensured tackling of emergent situations with objectivity, impartiality and quick response. The State Government has launched State-wide centralised ‘Dial 100’ project wherein any citizen from any part of the State can access the police help in emergency through a single 3-digit number ‘100’. This will facilitate better service delivery for citizens especially to all disadvantaged sections including SC, ST, Women, and Minorities by bringing in accountability in the police. He said the State Government is planning for more number of Police Stations exclusively manned by women officers and to increase the percentage of women in police force.

The Chief Minister said Women helpline is being maintained by the Police Department. The helpline provides counselling and other required help to the women in distress. The A.P. State Women Commission provides a platform to address the problems of women. It safeguards the constitutional rights of women, takes up review and recommends suitable amendments to the existing laws. He said the State Government is implementing Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 which offers various relief measures to victims of domestic violence. So far about 23,040 petitions have been received and 49 % cases were settled through counselling and in respect of others cases have been registered

Kiran Kumar Reddy said that Andhra Pradesh witnessed substantial reduction in cases of atrocities against SCs/STs from 4321 in 2010 to 3057 in 2012. Prevention of Atrocities (POA) cases have reduced from 1509 in 2010 to 801 in 2012. Andhra Pradesh is the first State in the country to enact landmark legislation, the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan (Planning, Allocation and Utilization of Financial Resources) Act, 2013 to ensure accelerated development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to bridge the Socio-economic gap with emphasis on promoting equity.