Govt has approved projects worth Rs 7000 cr under Nirbhaya fund: Smriti

Under the NIRBHAYA Fund, projects of Rs 7,000 crore, including setting up of 1,023 fast-track courts, have been approved by the Modi government, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said on Friday.

In a tribute to the 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim, then Congress-led government had announced setting up 'Nirbhaya Fund' of Rs 1,000 crore for safety and empowerment of women in the Budget presented in February 2013.

Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the victim to hide her actual identity.

In 2013-14, before the NDA government came into the picture there was zero utilisation of the NIRBHAYA Fund, and since this government came into play it has okayed projects worth Rs 7,000 crore, she said at an event organised by industry body Assocham.

"The issue is that what are the kind of projects you support. One we just have given financial approval for setting up of 1,023 fast track courts across the country after looking at density of court cases per district. Secondly we have just funded women help desks across all police stations in the country," she said.

The minister added that anti-trafficking units to protect women and children have also been funded.

The Nirbhaya Fund Framework provides for a non-lapsable corpus fund for safety and security of women to be administered by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Further, it provides for an Empowered Committee (EC) of officers chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) to appraise and recommend proposals to be funded under this framework.