300% rise in calls, Punjab Police augment capacity of 112 helpline

RELIEF WORK STEPPED UP TOO, 5.42 LAKH FOOD PACKETS DISTRIBUTED IN THREE DAYS

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police on Saturday scaled up its citizen support system, including the Dial 112 helpline, adding 11 workstations and raising its capacity to 53. The number was increased from 32 to 42 on Thursday.

Working in three shifts, 159 personnel are manning the helpline, said director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta, adding that the state government is also in talks with a private call centre to hire a 100-operator station. The DGP said the number of calls received on the helpline has gone up threefold, with 60% relating to Covid-19 and curfew. As compared to 4,000-5,000 calls daily, the helpline is receiving on an average 17,000 calls in the past few days, he said. Most of them are about provisioning of essential commodities, emergency medical condition, lockdown and suspected individuals.

PROCESS STREAMLINED

The callers are directed to district control rooms or 104/108 for any medical queries.

Those related to provisioning of medicines, groceries and other essential commodities are provided with the phone number of the district war rooms set up by deputy commissioners, officials concerned or local vendors as per requirements.

For further streamlining the system, the community policing wing has set up saanjh help desks at all district control rooms.

All calls that are forwarded from Dial 112 to districts are also taken up by these help desks, and are proactively followed up with the caller until the issue is resolved.

“In liaison with the local police, they are also ensuring that essential goods and medicines are delivered to the needy,” said the DGP.

Citing some examples, the DGP said the system helped 55 families of migrant labourers from Bihar and residing in Ludhiana get dry rations on Friday.

In Amritsar, groceries were provided to around 35 families by the station house officer in coordination with the local gurdwara, while a woman who had recently delivered a baby was rushed to hospital in distress.

The Mohali police also responded to similar calls to provide dry ration to 500 families on Friday, he said.

The Punjab Police has also stepped up its relief operations and supplied 2.23 lakh packets to the needy on Saturday, an increase of 19% from Friday.

In the last three days, a total of 5.42 lakh units of food have been distributed across the state.