Coming up: Safety islands to help women in distress

The Bangalore City Police and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike are joining forces to create 50 safety islands for women on a pilot basis to help them in times of distress.

Vulnerable locations like slums, bus stops and markets will be transformed into safety zones with panic buttons, good lighting, CCTV cameras and a loud speaker/PA system with a control unit linked to police control room. The system will have power backup for two hours with a UPS.

Women in distress can get police help with the press of the panic button. As soon as they get the alarm, the police control room will activate the CCTV camera on the safety island and direct the nearest response vehicle to go over.

"These safety islands would help women who are stuck in emergency situations, especially those who don't have smartphones to access the safety apps or don't have a raksha band," city police commissioner T Suneel Kumar said.

Setting up one safety island would cost Rs 9.94 lakh, with a five-year annual maintenance contract. The BBMP would designate land for the project.

"While we'd identify the places, the police would set up the safety equipment," BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said. "There are already 1,100 functioning CCTV cameras, to which we will be adding 5,500. We'll also be replacing streetlights with LED lights for better illumination."  

The agencies would set up safety islands across the city, subject to the outcome of the pilot project.