New Delhi, June 6: There was a time in Mumbai's Byculla jail when only two buckets of water were allocated to 600 women prisoners for the whole day, while only five sanitary towels were issue per month to every woman, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said on Wednesday.
Speaking about the achievements of her ministry in last four years, she said on her order, officials from the ministry visited the prison only to find that the two buckets of water would not have lasted for more than 15 minutes and suitable action was taken.
She also said that a Widow's Home with a capacity of 1,000 widows was constructed in Vrindavan to provide a safe and secure place for them and will be inaugurated by the month-end.
She also informed that over 1.8 crore calls were received every year since 2014 on the Child Helpline 1098 and the number of locations where the service is operation has gone up from 279 to 435 locations from 2014.
Underscoring the importance of forensics in nabbing the culprits in sexual assault cases, the minister said special forensic kits for rape would be distributed to all the police stations and hospitals by the month of July.
"These kits would contain a complete list of evidence/samples to be collected along with the equipment required to collect the evidence. The kits would be locked and sealed before being sent to forensic labs," she said.
On the disputes in NRI marriages, the minister said her ministry is in the process of issuing orders to the Registrars that NRI marriages have to be registered within 48 hours else the passport/visas would not be issued.
The Registrars would send the details of such NRI marriages to the ministry so that a Central database can be maintained.
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
