(From left) Ashutosh Kumar, VP, Consulting Delivery, CGI; Dr Vaishnavi, Officer on Special Duty for Chief Minister; Asha Bhat, actress and co-founder of The High Table; Sudhakar Pai, Head of ESG & Sustainability, CSR Leader, CGI; Jyoti Goenka, Vice President-Consulting Delivery, CGI and Revathy Ashok, Managing Trustee, CEO, B.PAC at the event organised in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Credit: DH Photo/BK Janardhan
Bengaluru: One of the top priorities for public safety is to make bus stops more accessible and footpaths around them walkable in both Govindaraja Nagar and Vijayanagar Assembly constituencies, revealed two audit reports released on Saturday.
The reports released by citizens’ group Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) and CGI, an IT and business consulting firm, provide an in-depth assessment of women’s safety in 265 public places across the nine wards of Vijayanagar and 10 wards of Govindaraja Nagar constituencies. These reports are part of the “B.SAFE Constituency initiative.”
The public places referred to in the reports include 46 anganwadis, 131 bus stops, 58 parks, 10 PHCs, 4 police stations, and 16 public toilets.
The audit, undertaken by 24 students of RNS College of Architecture, records “Must have” and “Good to have” facilities in these public places. CGI, which is supporting the initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), developed a mobile application for B. SAFE, helping in data collection and tracking of safety concerns.
Other insights that emerged from the reports include expanding anganwadis into full daycare centers, installing CCTVs or posting security guards in parks, keeping public toilets open throughout the day and providing sanitary pads there. Sixty-two per cent of the 29 anganwadis in Govindaraja Nagar require proper seating for students, while 39% of 34 parks need play equipment for children.
B.PAC is working with local communities, civic bodies, and government representatives to implement the audit’s findings to make public spaces safer for women.
Dr Vaishnavi K, Officer on Special Duty to CM Siddaramaiah, who was one of the special guests at the event, highlighted the need for associations such as B.PAC across the state. She highlighted her team’s work and urged people to work with the government. “This month, we are preparing a report on road safety and working on activating district road safety committees to detect (road crash) blackspots, blindspots, and re-engineering of roads. We are also working on rabies,” she said.
Revathy Ashok, CEO and Managing Trustee, B.PAC, emphasised that the initiative was collective action on display, generating solid data to help policymakers and also involve youth to sensitise them on inclusive architecture and urban design.