Tamil Nadu yet to use funds collected under Nirbhaya scheme, says CAG report; raps govt for not setting up control room

Chennai: Despite four cities in Tamil Nadu qualifying for funds under the Nirbhaya scheme, the state was yet to utilise it, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report said. The Centre had set up a Nirbhaya Fund with an initial corpus of Rs 1,000 crore, for the entire country in September 2013, aimed at providing security for women travelling in public transport in the country, covering 32 towns with a population of more than one million. [caption id=“attachment_3832979” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Coimbatore in the state have a population of more than one million, and qualify for utilisation of funds under the Nirbhaya scheme, the report that was tabled in the Assembly, said on Wednesday. “Despite this, Tamil Nadu had not set up any control room nor funds were sought under the Nirbhaya scheme,” it said. Failure of the transport department to compile the needs and requirements relating to the safety of women passengers has led to a delay in availing funds under the scheme, it added. Though the state government had said that the funds would be obtained from the Centre after studying the requirements, the report stated that the reply from the government was “not convincing,” as it had not only delayed the response to the Centre, but was also “not” able to utilise the fund for the safety of women. The Nirbhaya Fund was set up by the Centre in the aftermath of 16 December, 2012 gangrape incident in New Delhi.