Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, took part in the Disha app awareness campaign.
On the 29th of June, Tuesday, the State Chief Minister participated in the event organised at Gollapudi High School, at Gollapudi village in Vijayawada, A.P. The awareness campaign, regarding the use of the Andhra Pradesh Government launched Disha app, was organised to educate women about the importance and benefits of the app. The Disha app was launched to ensure the safety of women in Andhra Pradesh.
This time, the State Chief Minister took the responsibility and emphasized the importance of the campaign. He said every woman should use this application and directed the concerned officials to go door to door and create awareness about the app.
On the occasion, t Chief Minister Jagan Mohn Reddy said, “We need to go door to door and create awareness on the Disha app and make every woman download the app.” He further said, “Already 17 lakh people have downloaded the Disha app and every woman who has a smartphone should have the app.”
Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “There is no question that the police are doing us a disservice, lagging on the safety and security of women.”
The special application was launched on the 8th of February 2020 by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Besides the application, the State Government also launched a special police station, named Disha Police Station in the Rajamahendravaram area of A.P.
The one of a kind application and police station was a first in India. The name of the police station and application, Disha, was established in the name of a rape victim. In 2019, a brutal incident of rape and sexual assault happened in Telangana. After the horrific incident, the neighbouring Telugu state, Andhra Pradesh, launched a police station and an application named after the victim– an initiative towards the safety of women in the State.
In addition, after the rape and murder incident, the A.P., Government passed an Act named Andhra Pradesh Disha Act, 2019. According to the act, cases of atrocities against women must be heard and closed within 21 days and death penalty must be given in the required cases.
The State Government developed the Disha App, which sends an alert to the police control room when a woman or a girl in distress shakes the smartphone with the app three times. It also has a single touch SOS, with five numbers of family and friends added. When an individual would press the SOS button, an alert would be sent to the added five numbers, which can seek help from the police and women safety cells across the State.
In addition, there are special options to know contact details of nearest police station and police officials, as also particulars of hospitals, maternity centres, trauma care points, blood banks and pharmacies.
So far, approximately 16 lakh women have downloaded the Disha App. An individual could download the app with a registered mobile phone from applications like Google Play Store on Android phones and Apple App Store (iStore) on Apple phones.
Stay tuned for further updates.
