Much to the disappointment for the police personnel deployed at the Composite Control Room of the State Emergency Response System (SERS), also called Unified Dial 100, launched by Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Sunday; over 60 per cent of the calls received were test calls from all over the State.
According to the DSP, Composite Control Room, such unwanted calls waste both time and energy of the person taking calls at the Control Room and at the same time discourage them.
“Out of the total of 116 calls received till Monday, as many as 66 calls were test calls made by various persons saying they were just testing the new service launched by the Chief Minister,” said DSP Composite Control Room TK Jha. He, however, said that there has been no remarkable increase in calls on the number, he added.
“Even on Tuesday, out of 63 calls received by us, 39 were test calls while 128 out of a total of 223 calls were test calls on Wednesday,” said the DSP.
Most of the calls received so far were related to accidents which were said to be new for the service.
“A new trend of calling Dial 100 for the accident related cases was noticed after Sunday which is really an achievement for all of us. It indicates that a sense of trust has been developed among the people who have started responding on the number,” said Jha. Many complaints related to rash driving were also seen during the last two days, he added.
“It proves that it has started working and people have become aware of it,” said the DSP. At the same time, he also said that people need to be made more aware about it as more the complaints received, more it becomes successful.
“As of now, it has only be launched in the State, but we need to publicise it more through advertisements in newspapers and televisions so that more and more get to know about it,” said the DSP. It is expected to get functional completely and effectively by Durga Puja, he added.
“It is a commendable initiative taken by the Chief Minister of which everyone should take advantage to resolve their problems,” said the DSP. He also appealed people at public places to like banks and hospitals to inform on the number in case they come across any anti-social activity.
Jha said that action will be taken against anybody giving fake information on Dial 100. Speaking about Unified Dial 100 service launched by him, Das said that there must be a sense of honesty and accountability among the police personnel attached with this service and it must be ensured that police reaches to the distressed person on time.
The Dial 100 District Centre directly controls as many as 320 PCR vehicles deployed in the 24 districts of the State. As soon as any information is received, nearest PCR vehicle or police station will be dispatched to assist the distressed person. A target of 15 minutes has been fixed in the city areas and 25 minutes for rural areas to reach the caller.
The call at SERS will be received by a lady police personnel and will be forwarded to the District Command and Control Room to sent required police assistance to the ground level which will further be inform the local police station.