Andhra CM spreads awareness on women's safety application

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken it upon himself to spread awareness on Disha application, which has been launched to provide better security and protection to citizens, mainly women.

The Chief Minister actively took part in an extensive campaign held at Gollapudi, Vijayawada on Tuesday, on the Disha application intending to ensure every woman in the state download the application and stated that it is one step closer to a safer tomorrow. "Various government departments along with the Andhra Pradesh police are organising extensive awareness programs on the Disha application's download, features, and usage," the government said.

As per a statement, the Andhra Pradesh government passed the Disha Bill intending to provide better security and protection towards citizens, mainly women and report instances of harassment, sexual harassment, and other crimes against women. The app has expedited the investigation of cases related to atrocities against women and led to taking appropriate steps to direct these cases through the legal system with the required evidence.

The features of this application include an SOS button which sends out an alert once pressed to the Disha Command Control Centre, immediately notifying the police close to the location of the alert and simultaneously notifies registered emergency contacts as well, a total of 5 numbers can be registered as emergency contacts. A new feature called "Track My Travel" was incorporated in the application as an added measure for safety and supervision during travel. Emergency dial assistance numbers, 100 and 112 are also included in the application.

A specific option is provided in the application to receive the contact information of police officials from the nearest police station, also the contact information of Hospitals, Maternity centres, trauma care centres, blood banks, and pharmacies will be made accessible from the application. Since the launch of the app, 17,65,000 citizens have downloaded the Disha application, 1,68,483 SOS requests have been sent out and addressed, a total of 220 FIRs have been registered and 1297 actionable cases have been taken on by the Andhra Pradesh Police. This application can be downloaded from the Google play store and Apple app store.