Many civic amenities need attention to make Mahadevapura, Malleshwaram safe for women: B.PAC report

Infrastructure of street lights, bus stops, parks, first and last mile connectivity and facilities at Anganwadi are some of the key areas that need immediate action to make Mahadevapura and Malleshwaram constituencies safe for women in Bengaluru, according to a latest report.
Bangalore Political Action Committee’s (B.PAC) B.SAFE Constituency Public Place Safety Audit Report aims to facilitate a safer assembly constituency for women in the city. It brings different stakeholders, community and domain experts on a common platform along with an integrated set of programs like public place audits, community awareness, recommended action plans and sustained advocacy.
“By doing so, they are bringing the attention of the system and the public on how we need to work together to ensure that Bengaluru and the respective wards and streets can be made safe for each and every citizen…and more so particularly for women,” Minister and MLA of Malleshwaram, Dr. CN Ashwath Narayan said.
“We’ll ensure that the Anganwadis, the bus stands, parks and every footpath is a safe place…the measurement can indicate where and what needs to be done,” Narayan added.
45 women B.SAFE ambassadors – 22 from Mahadevapura and 23 from Malleshwaram – identified areas in which there were infrastructural gaps and audited 260 public places and 108 streets in the year 2021-2022.
Safety audit was conducted across 8 types of public places that women access on a regular basis which includes 23 Anganwadi Kendra, 71 bus stops, 41 first mile-last mile, 30 markets, 37 parks, 14 PHCs, 12 police stations, and 32 public toilets covering both the assembly constituencies.
The audit analysis, which was conducted at 260 locations, provided the performance of each ward, ward wise comparison and ward level scoring. The report also comprises an action plan and way forward to emerge as a model constituency on safety and empowerment of women.
According to the report, the two priorities in both constituencies for immediate action are:
Improve infrastructure of street lights and bus stops making them passenger friendly through map/information systems, better lighting, footpaths, and quality seating.
Significant opportunities in improving park infrastructure, First Mile and Last Mile connectivity and facilities at Anganawadi.
“These changes will help Mahadevapura & Malleshwaram emerge as a model constituency on safety and empowerment of women,” the report said.
Releasing the report, Aravind Limbavali, MLA of Mahadevapura, said in the coming days, the focus will be on implementation of the feedback and recommendations from the public place audit report in the next one year.
“A safe city is always a prosperous city. I am really proud of the B.SAFE Constituency program as it intends to create safe public places in Bengaluru city. I wish to see this initiative by B.PAC can be emulated not only in Karnataka but the entire country,” B.PAC President Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said.
BPAC aims to conduct a similar B.SAFE Constituency Program in other zones of Bengaluru.