Under the Union Budget 2017-18, the central government has increased the Delhi Police’s Nirbhaya fund from Rs 3.4 crore in the last fiscal year to Rs 28.9 crore.

The overall allotment to the Delhi Police has also increased from Rs 5,913.74 crore last year to Rs 6,378.18 crore. This amount includes Rs 5,910.28 crore for maintaining and enforcing law and order in the city, Rs 439 crore for the police infrastructure (office building and residential building projects). The rest is for the Nirbhaya Fund.

The Delhi Police had earlier written a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs requesting a raise in the fund.

“We had given them our detailed requirement, like procurement of more CCTVs and women empowerment activities like self-defence training, which has so far been done on an ad-hoc basis… Now we plan to outsource it to an agency,” spokesperson of Delhi Police, Joint CP Dependra Pathak said.

The Nirbhaya Fund was set up in 2013 in the aftermath of the December 16 Delhi gang-rape. It was set up by the Ministry of Finance to implement schemes and initiatives to enhance the security and safety of women in the country. The nodal government body to appraise these schemes and monitor their progress is the Women and Child development ministry (WCD).

A press release by the WCD on January 28, revealed that while, “the amount allocated to different projects is approximately Rs.1530 Crores so far and the expenditure incurred is approximately Rs. 400 Crores.” It is unclear what is being done with remaining amount in the fund or how an increase will solve this inefficiency.