Fake and prank calls have become a matter of concern for the 108 Call Centre employees as it has become a big hurdle in smooth functioning of the emergency ambulance service in the State.
Reports said the toll-free 108 number gets as many as 10,000 calls per day of which 700 calls are hoax. Due to thi is not only waste the time of the employee attending the calls but also delay the service to the persons who might need it urgently.
Besides, these calls are unnecessarily clogging the telephone lines.
Some mischief mongers are also making prank calls and harassing the women tele callers repeatedly
According to women tele callers, they have been getting nuisance calls from some particular numbers every day and are being repeatedly harassed. Neither they have don’t have emergency and nor any health problems. They just call the women employees to have fun.
Despite complaining, the police have remained indifferent and are yet to take any action against the pranksters, alleged tele callers.
Sabysachi Biswal, Project Head of 108 Call Centre, said, “Some unsocial youths have been making calls to 108 Call Centre and speaking on matters which are not related to health at all. In the process, they keep this phone line engaged. Sometimes, they even make fake call to 108 number asking for ambulance service and when the emergency vehicle reaches that particular destination to shift the ailing person to hospital, it has to return empty handed in the absence of any sick person there.”