Chandigarh, March 8- The state level program to mark the International Women’s Day was organized in Gurugram today, in which Haryana Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal was chief guest, who highlighted the significant role of mother in every one’s life and said that a mother teaches the first lesson of life to her child. She is the first teacher and trainer of her child. He said that a ‘Mothers for sports and fitness App’ will be launched through which the mothers would come to know about the facilities of sports, coaches available in their proximity, so that they can motivate the children to avail those facilities to become mentally and physically fit.
The venue of the program was the auditorium of Government College Sector-14 Gurugram, from where the Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal addressed all the 22 districts through video conferencing. Before his address, the Chief Minister released a booklet on ‘Poshan Pakhwara’ (Nutrition fortnight), the statewide campaign launched from today which will last till 22nd March. Under the campaign, the health of adolescent girls, pregnant women and children would be examined, they will be made aware about the nutritious food, health checkup camps will be organized and baseline surveys will be conducted to identify the areas having more number of women suffering from Anemia, so that those areas can be focused upon. He also administered ‘Nutrition Oath’ to all the participants. A total of 29 women achievers from across the state were also honoured in the program besides awarding 3 districts for better nutrition- Punchkula, Sirsa & Panipat and 4 districts of the state for improvement in sex ratio- Ambala, Punchkula, Jhajjar & Panipat.
Speaking about the steps taken by the state government towards women empowerment, the CM said that 3.90 lakh street lights would be erected as lighting provide a secure atmosphere to women folk during night hours. Two lakh CCTV cameras have already been installed and one lakh more would be installed in next two years to keep vigil through these cameras on law and order situation. Special vehicles were being provided to girl students to ensure that they reach their educational institutions safe. Not only this, 31 new girls colleges have been opened and 9 more would be set up, so that the girl students do not have to travel more than 20 kilometers from their homes.
He said that it is the women and girls who play significant role in taking the culture forward. Mr Manohar Lal said, “I salute the spirit and power of women and with the theme of ‘each for equal’ this program is dedicated to the women”. He said that today special Gram Sabhas were also being organized in all village panchayats to discuss the issues of women, their empowerment, health, hygiene, how to improve sex ratio and bring equality and other related issues.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Mrs Kamlesh Dhanda inaugurated the state level program by lighting the traditional lamp. Highlighting the achievements of women like Late Sushma Swaraj, Kalpana Chawla, Saina Nehwal, Sakshi Malik, Gita Phogat, Babita Phogat among others , she said, women are excelling in all fields and setting up examples. She reminded that the Prime Minister Mr Narender Modi launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padao (B3P) campaign from Haryana in 2015, as a result of which the sex ratio at birth has now increased to 923 which was 823 in 2011. She appreciated the welfare schemes for women started by the state government and said that the CM has made provision of CCTV cameras in Girls colleges, sanitary napkin to women from BPL families, opening of 500 crèches for children of working women in the budget this year. Besides, One Stop Centres of Women & Child Department and Women Police Stations have been opened to help the women in distress and check crime against women respectively. Mrs Dhanda appealed the women folk “take care of your own health also as normally we neglect ourselves while taking care of the family”.
Chief Secretary Haryana Mrs Keshani Anand Arora also addressed the gathering. She said that today special campaign for mass download of Durga Shakti App was also launched under the guidance of DGP Haryana Sh Manoj Yadava. This App was downloaded in 4819 mobile phones today, in a single day, taking the total number of downloads to 203512 in the state. Mr Yadava said that till 28 February this year, the downloads were 1.86 lakh. He said that the phone number 112 would be made functional in a month’s time in Haryana, which would further help in women safety. In addition, 640 new PCRs and Emergency Vehicles would be provided to the police, which will enable the police to reach at the site of incident within 10 minutes time.
Additional Chief Secretary Women and Child Development Mr Amit Jha, Deputy Commissioner Gurugram Mr Amit Khatri also addressed in the function. MLAs Sudhir Singla and Satyaprakash Jarawta were also present along the Mayor Gurugram Smt Madhu Azad, Director of Women and Child Development Department Amna Tasleem, Member of Haryana Commission for women Preety Bhardwaj, Commissioner of Gurugram Police Mohammad Akil, ADGP Law & Order Navdeep Virk, Divisional Commissioner Ashok Sangwan were also present among other dignitaries.