Chandigarh, January 28- Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal said that ensuring the safety of the girls and providing education to them is the topmost priority of the State Government. In the last five years, 31 women's colleges have been opened and nine more new women's colleges will be openedsoon. Apart from this, 100 pink buses are plying for the girls who are going to colleges and 125 more mini-busses will also be purchased.

The Chief Minister was speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebrations and Prerna Diwas of K.L. Mehta Dayanand College for Women, at NIT Faridabad today. Transport Minister, Mr. Mool Chand Sharma, and MLA, Mrs. Seema Trikha were also present on this occasion.

He said that in a bid to promote the education of daughters and to avoid the problem faced by the girls coming from rural areas for higher education, the decision of opening the college within a radius of 20 kilometers was taken and for this 40 places have been identified, where Colleges are being opened so that girls do not have to travel more than 10 kilometers for higher education.

The Chief Minister said that to ensure that the girl students do not face any problem while traveling to their colleges; it has been decided to run women buses on 181 routes, out of which buses are already running on about 100 routes. He said that a female constable will also be deputed on duty in these women buses.

The Chief Minister informed that for the safety of women, 34 women police stations have been opened in the State and three more new police stations will be opened soon. Similarly, two thousand women police personnel have been recruited in the State and a target has been set to increase the strength of women in State police force to 15 percent.

The Chief Minister said that for the security of the girls', 2 lakh CCTV cameras have been installed at various places in the State and one lakh more CCTV cameras will be installed in the next financial year. He said that CCTV cameras are being installed to monitor women's safety and other criminal incidents. He said that CCTV is a very important tool to control criminal activities as the CCTV can be used at every important location ensuring security. With the help of CCTV cameras, the police are keeping a close watch on those having criminal records.

The Chief Minister said that if a girl is educated the whole family is educated. He said that it was in January 2015, Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi had started the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign from Panipat to improve the declining sex ratio in the country. At the time when the campaign was launched, the sex ratio of Haryana was 871 girls, but it is a matter of great pride that due to the dedicated efforts of the State Government, the sex ratio has improved significantly and now it has reached 923 for each 1000 male. He said that a strict law has been made in the State against eve-teasing and any other crime against women. He said that a provision of giving the death penalty has been made for those who are caught for sexually assaulting a girl up to 12 years.

He said that in Indian society, a woman is seen with great respect as a mother, sister, daughter, and wife. He said that knowledge and culture are very important aspects of human life.

The Chief Minister said that following the teachings of Maharishi Dayanand, the college is doing very good work for educating the girls. In this educational institution, at present, 4500 girls are studying and till now more than one lakh students from this institution are educated and working in the field of social work.

The Chief Minister said that today, girls in society are bringing laurels in every field like education, governance, administration, politics, and sports, etc. On this occasion, he also announced a grant of 31 lakh rupees to the institution and released the book of NRI Digamber Naswa.

Speaking on this occasion, Transport Minister, Mr. Mool Chand Sharma said that the College is playing a big role in educating the girls. The State Government has also set up a women's college in Ballabgarh, which will benefit thousands of girls. Similarly, the beautification of "Rani ki Chhatri" in Ballabgarh is being done at a cost of Rs 2 crore. On this occasion, Seema Trikha, MLA of Badkhal, shared her views.

President of Maharishi Dayanand Educational Institution, Mr. Anand Mehta, welcomed the Chief Minister and gave information about the activities conducted by the institution.