Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) and CSR partner CGI, released the B.SAFE Constituency Public Place Safety Audit Report of Malleshwaram and Mahadevapura Constituencies in the august presence of Shri Aravind Limbavali, MLA of Mahadevapura, Mrs Pranitha Subhash, Actor and Brand Ambassador B.SAFE Program and Dr Rahul Ghodke, Senior Vice President and Business Unit Leader, CGI.
Women’s safety is imperative to make strides towards women’s empowerment. B.SAFE Constituency is a unique initiative by Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) to bring different stakeholders, community and domain experts on a common platform and facilitate a safer assembly constituency for women through an integrated set of programs like public place audits, community awareness, recommended action plans and sustained advocacy. B.SAFE Constituency initiative is implemented ward wise and is led by a band of B.SAFE Ambassadors. The Program has been supported by CGI, one of the largest global Canadian IT and business consulting services firm as part of their CSR initiative. B.SAFE Constituency program is piloted in two Assembly Constituencies - Mahadevapura and Malleshwaram.
The release of the B.SAFE Constituency Public Place Safety Audit Report of both Mahadevapura and Malleshwaram Assembly Constituencies includes the audit analysis conducted at 260 locations. Constructed on the analysis, performance of each ward, ward wise comparison and ward level scoring was found. The report also comprises an action plan and way forward to emerge as a model constituency on safety and empowerment of women. The objective of this report is not to compare constituencies but to identify infrastructure gaps and work with local community, ward committees, civic bodies and elected representatives to make it safer and secure.
In Bengaluru, every day it becomes a shared responsibility to optimize women's safety in public spaces while also formulating tremendous opportunities for them. 45 energetic and passionate B.SAFE Ambassadors were chosen for the program i.e. 22 from Mahadevapura and 23 from Malleshwaram. and these ambassadors underwent capacity building sessions conducted by domain experts on concepts focusing on women safety, government schemes for empowerment, financial literacy, diagnostics of safety in public places, working with police and many other.
Post training, In pursuit to improve public infrastructure and shed light on the current scenario these Ambassadors audited 260 public places and 108 streets in the year 2021-2022. Safety audit was conducted across 8 types of public places that women access on a regular basis which includes 23 Anganwadi Kendra, 71 Bus Stops, 41 First Mile Last Mile, 30 Markets, 37 Parks, 14 PHCs, 12 Police stations, 32 public toilets covering both the assembly constituency.
During the analysis of the sample data collected across 8 BBMP wards in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency and 7 BBMP wards in the Malleshwaram assembly constituency it was observed that the overall public place safety score for both the constituency can be improved by implementing the below-mentioned action plan.
The two priorities in both constituencies for immediate action are 1. improve infrastructure of street lights and bus stops making them passenger friendly through map/information systems, better lighting, footpaths, and quality seating. 2. significant opportunities in improving park infrastructure, First Mile and Last Mile connectivity and facilities at Anganawadi. These changes will help Mahadevapura & Malleshwaram emerge as a model constituency on safety and empowerment of women. To action these recommendations, B.PAC through our band of B.SAFE Ambassadors along with key stakeholders such as BBMP, BMTC, Ward Committees, Elected representatives have to come together with the support of the Citizens to implement the suggested action plan to showcase a Safe Constituency.
Releasing the report, Shri Aravind Limbavali, MLA of Mahadevapura said "B.SAFE Constituency program is very essential for a growing city like Bengaluru. I thank B.PAC for getting Mahadevapura Constituency into the program, training B.SAFE ambassadors and giving feedback for improving facilities to support women’s safety in our constituency. In the coming days, our team will focus and ensure implementation of the feedback and recommendations from the public place audit report in the next one year."
In a video-recorded message to the audience, Dr. CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister GoK and MLA of Malleshwaram said that “B.SAFE Constituency program has emphasized in bringing safety for women and empowerment as a priority subject to the attention of the government, elected representatives, civic bodies and citizens. Collectively working together is the way forward in creating a safe city for everyone, especially women.
In a prerecorded video message, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, President, B.PAC said, A safe city is always a prosperous city. I am really proud of the B.SAFE Constituency program as it intends to create safe public places in Bengaluru city. I wish to see this initiative by B.PAC can be emulated not only in Karnataka but the entire country
Revathy Ashok, Honorable CEO and Managing trustee, B.PAC shared the opening remarks to the session.
Followed by the report release program discussion on the topic, “Creating safer public spaces by Bridging the gaps in Bengaluru” was attended by Dr. B R Ravi Kanthegowda, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police, Ms. Radhika G, IPS, Director (S&V), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Mr. S M Srinivas, Joint Commissioner, West Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Ms. Sapna Karim, Head Civic Participation, Janaagraha For more information on audit report and action plan and executive summary click - B.SAFE Constituency Public Place Safety Audit Executive Summary of Mahadevapura - B.SAFE Constituency Public Place Safety Audit Executive Summary of Malleshwaram BPAC would like to conduct a similar B.SAFE Constituency Program in other zones of Bengaluru. More information about B.SAFE Constituency at https://bpac.in/b-safe-constituency/ For more information: Sachin AT | sachiin@bpac.in | 7349542201 Amruth B | amruth@bpac.in | 91646 04632 Siri TK | siri@bpac.in | 7975720130
About B.PAC
Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) is a non-partisan nonprofit organization that aims to improve governance in Bengaluru and to enhance the quality of life of every citizen. B.PAC is specifically targeting good governance practices, integrity and transparency in all arms of the government, improving the quality of infrastructure in the city, and identification and support of strong candidates for public office at all levels of governance in Bengaluru city. Learn more at https://bpac.in/
About B.SAFE, Women & Child Safety Program
B.SAFE is a program committed to advocating the safety of women and children at workplaces, educational institutions, public spaces and transportation. Learn more at https://bpac.in/b-safe/
About CGI:
Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world.
Insights-driven and outcomes-based they help accelerate returns on IT and business investments. Across 21 industry sectors in 400 locations worldwide, 80,000 professionals provide comprehensive, scalable, and sustainable IT and business consulting services that are informed globally and delivered locally. Learn more at https://www.cgi.com/
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