The Madhya Pradesh police is soon going to launch a State-level ‘dial 100’ emergency service to help people in distress, after its ‘100’ call facility at the district level did not work to the people’s satisfaction.
Madhya Pradesh Additional Director General of Police (Communication) Anvesh Manglam while talking to media persons said, “The service will be run from Bhopal and is aimed at building positive image of the police. The moment a witness to a crime and accident, or a victim calls the control room, police will take swift action and reach the spot within five minutes or as soon as possible.”
“We have worked out the system as people don’t turn up to police stations with their complaints due to the lackluster response of law enforcers. Usually, poor and marginalized people first approach some influential person to contact police,” he said.“One of the priorities of dial 100 is to provide quality service to people and win their confidence,” he said.
Under the system, a first information report (FIR) will be registered on the spot. If police do not register the FIR, they are going to state a valid reason for it, he said.Special police teams in all districts of the state will be formed under this system, the ADG said.The moment state-level call service is contacted by dialling 100, the respective team will be informed and asked to rush to the spot on a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), he said.
“Even if the control room is informed about a road jam, the traffic police and concerned officials would be rushed to the spot immediately,” Manglam said.For this, nearly 1,000 SUVs will be hired which will be equipped with mobile data terminal and GPS, he said.Out of the total Rs252 crore sanctioned for the project to be used by March 2017, Rs210 crore will be spent on hiring and equipping SUVs, he said.
“The SUVs will be monitored from the Bhopal-based control room with the GPS fitted on it,” Manglam said.Around 60 police officials will be stationed at the control room-cum-call centre which would be headed by an officer of Inspector General’s rank, he said.The control room will be equipped with phone numbers and contact details of doctors and fire brigade department officials so that they can be approached during emergency. It will also have computer telephony and follow standard operation procedures, he said.
At the 80-seater control room, 240 people will work in three shifts daily initially which will be expanded later. Tenders for setting up the control room are being scrutinised, Manglam said, adding that the ‘dial 100’ facility would be operational in five months. It will be set up on Bhadbhada Road and later shifted to Tribal Museum, he added.