Installation of CCTV cameras in government schools, a new survey to ascertain the level of safety for women in public spaces, and hikes in assistance to Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) and leprosy patients were among the proposals passed by the Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday.
At a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Cabinet passed the Education Department’s proposal for administrative approval and expenditure sanction for installing CCTV cameras in government schools, a government statement said.
In May, the Expenditure Finance Committee had approved the ₹597 crore project to instal 1.46 lakh cameras in schools, including inside classrooms. The cameras will cover classrooms, corridors, laboratories, libraries, vacant rooms, parking lots and areas outside washrooms.
The government had decided to instal cameras in schools after a spate of attacks on children inside institutes across the NCR in the past year. In July, the Cabinet had approved a project to instal 1.4 lakh cameras in Delhi’s residential colonies and markets.
In order to map the city for infrastructural problems, a proposal by the Women and Child Development Department to conduct a survey with the NGO SafetiPin was approved by the Cabinet, the statement said.
The NGO had done a survey to identify dark spots a few years ago, the statement added. The new survey will involve collection of data on the level of brightness, visibility, number of pedestrians, presence of security or police personnel, condition of footpath, availability of public transport and percentage of women and children in the crowd at different locations in the city.
This information will be crowd-sourced using two apps created by SafetiPin.
Park maintenance
The Cabinet also approved the Environment and Forest Department’s proposal to double the amount of financial assistance, from ₹1 lakh per acre to ₹2 lakh per acre, to RWAs and NGOs to maintain parks.
The Cabinet also cleared a proposal to give one-time assistance of ₹2 lakh per acre for the setting up of a sewage treatment plant (STP) at parks maintained by the RWAs or NGOs. The STP will draw sewage from the nearest line of the Delhi Jal Board, treat it and then enable the use of the grey water to irrigate the park.
The Cabinet also cleared the Education Department’s proposal to rename the existing Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti scheme to School Management Committee (SMC) Fund in order to empower the SMCs. The Cabinet also approved the department’s proposal to increase the rates of remuneration of guest teachers that fall in the “miscellaneous” subject category, including music and special education.
Financial assistance
The Social Welfare Department’s proposal to increase the financial assistance to leprosy patients from ₹1,800 a month to ₹3,000 a month under the Rehabilitation Centre for Leprosy Affected Persons (RCL) Scheme was also approved.
The government said that there are 562 beneficiaries of the RCL scheme who will get the enhanced rates from September onwards.