The ‘Shakti’ mobile application service initiated a year ago to help women in distress is yet to be fully adopted by the residents, despite several attempts by the police department to make this android-based app popular among women.
The number of cases registered through the application is comparatively very less. Started on a pilot basis in Jamshedpur and Ranchi on March 8 this year, so far only 150 cases from both the districts have been registered through this mobile application.
Police personnel feel that the target groups are yet not very much sensitised about the power of new media platforms to curb crime against women. However, installing equipment, training of resource personnel, granting funds to each district for the specific purpose, GPRS devices monitoring and maintenance are few areas of concern that need to be addressed before ensuring its proper use.
Undeterred, the police department is planning to extend the services to Hazaribagh, Bokaro and Dhanbad as well. “We are trying to cover several schools and educational institutes to make girls aware about the utilisation and benefits of ‘Shakti’ mobile application but now it is upon the users to avail the benefits of the service being provided for free of cost. Here, only rigorous awareness campaign can help in making the service popular,” said IG CID, Sampat Meena.
Meena further added that, they are not facing any technical glitches, financial constraints in rolling out the plan in different districts. “We started the service on pilot basis in Jamshedpur. Police stations like Sonari, Kadma, Bistupur, Sakchi, Sidgoda and Sitaramdera were covered in the first phase. We too want that females utilize this service.
Till date I have sent letters to more than 75 educational institutes to sensitise students about the mobile app in the State Capital. However, other emergency services as well are also not utilised to its fullest,” Meena pointed out.
Designed keeping in mind time constrains and for immediate aid, a person just need to feed the contact numbers of three known persons, name, email id, one’s own mobile number, including the address. In case of any distress, the user can send an alert by pressing the help button. Immediately, an alert will be sent to police control room 0651-2215855 and to other three registered contacts.