E-Rahat, a centralised emergency helpline number aimed at bringing respite to the people at the times of distress, is said to be helping police to track the rebels in the remote areas. As the identity of the complainant is kept secret by the call centre, people are using e-Rahat as a platform to share Naxal related information with the police. “We are getting complaints from the Naxal areas on this emergency helpline number and getting some vital information about their movements,” said project coordinator of
e-Rahat NK Singh. According to Singh, some complaints about the threat given by the Maoists have also been registered with us, he added. Singh said that the inputs have been forwarded to the concerned SPs about to take necessary action.
Chief minister Hemant Soren had launched the complete version of e-Rahat service in the State on November 2 last year to provide a much-needed cushion to common citizens during emergencies.
The toll-free number provided by the State Government is helping people for getting timely assistance in emergency cases. The services of e-Rahat are to cater the need of people across the State right from the panchayat to State-level.
According to Singh, several cases of different kind are being received by the call centre which is working round the clock taking calls and providing assistance to those people. “We are getting good response from the people across the State where around 60-70 complaints of different kinds are received per day,” added Singh.
Advertisements given to the newspapers and other mediums have been a great help for getting attention of the people across the State. Under the e-Rahat services, people can avail emergency services by dialling the toll-free number 1967. The services provided under e-Rahat include medical facilities, services in the event of arson, natural calamities, bomb explosion, theft, riots, kidnapping, sexual harassment, death and robbery etc.
A call centre based on GIS, working round-the-clock to register emergency calls sends information to the concerned person through SMS. Information and Technology department, being the nodal department of the helpline, it has been set up with the help of Home and Fire Department, added Singh. “We are getting complaints of kinds on e-Rahat like eve-teasing, threat calls, family related problems, including cases of domestic violence, which are forwarded to the concerned authority nearest to him through Short Messaging Services after registering complaints with us,” said Singh. Separate docket is to be opened for each call under the service which will remain active until someone from the administration reaches the affected person.