B.PAC plans awareness events on safety of women, children

Workshops on child safety at 20 aided schools

An array of workshops, awareness programmes and campaigns focusing on the safety of women and children will be conducted by Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC ) as part of its initiative for women and children, under the banner of B.SAFE.

Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on ‘Women and Children’s Safety,’ Revathy Ashok, CEO and managing trustee of B.PAC said, “We have chalked out several programmes to be implemented over a period of one year. We have selected 20 government-aided schools to hold workshops on child safety by engaging with parents, teachers and the school managements. We will be training 750 women on various aspects of women safety that include police and legal support, definition of violence and laws.”

She said that the training programmes would be undertaken by members of B.PAC’s Bangalore Civic Leadership Incubation Programme (BCLIP), in association with United Way of Bengaluru and Australian Aid - an Australian government agency responsible for managing Australia’s overseas aid programme.

Sean Kelly, Australian Consul-General to South India, promised during the workshop to lend support to the awareness programmes and organisations involved in the campaign.

MLC V S Ugrappa said that an interim report was submitted to the government by the Legislative Committee on Women and Child Safety six months ago, with recommendations to improve their safety. But the report has gathering dust, he said.

Alarms in 500 BMTC buses
The B.PAC, which is closely working with government agencies on various issues, said that it had been pushing the government to instal alarm systems in BMTC buses. “We faced a lot of resistance initially. But we are now glad that the government has finally agreed to instal alarms in 500 buses, which will aid in creating safer spaces for women and children,” Revathy said.