Srinagar, Nov 29 (PTI) National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma on Tuesday said special cells will be increased in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to expand the commission's reach in the two Union territories.

"In the near future, we will increase the number of special cells in order to expand our reach. We need to strengthen the visibility through active engagement in communities on gender-based violence," Sharma said while chairing a meeting of the monitoring committee for 12 pilot special cells here.

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She stressed on the need for increasing awareness programmes in coordination with police and other allied departments for effective functioning of the special cells.

The meeting was attended by NCW Joint Secretary A Asholi Chalai; Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Sheetal Nanda; DIG Central Kashmir Range, Sujit Kumar Singh; DIG, UT of Ladakh, S Junaid Mehmood; NCW Special Coordinator Neha Mahajan; Director of Mission Shakti Harvinder Kaur; Assistant Professor, Central University Jammu, Dr Vinay Kumar; and Coordinator, J&K Special Cell for Women, Saima Shah, among others.

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The NCW chairperson was briefed about the work progress of 12 pilot special cells for women in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since April, 2022 to October, 2022.

During the meeting, detailed discussions were held on the special cells and suggestions for way forward from respective members of monitoring committee for effective functioning of the cells.

The meeting was informed that 256 outreach activities about women safety and empowerment had been conducted by special cells for women during that period.

It was also revealed that a total of 1,307 interventions have been carried out by special cells and 2,755 meetings have been conducted in 575 cases of women registered at such cells.

Sharma enquired about the number of complaints received by women cells in different districts and said that all help should be provided to women who are facing violence in any form.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)