The Deccan Chronicle 16.09.2010
How effective are our helplines?With every other government organisation coming out with a helpline to boast of their ‘consumer-friendly’ attitude, a reality check done by this newspaper has revealed that the police helpline was by far the least responsive. While most government helpline calls at least ended with a conversation with a real person, the cops were always ‘busy’.
Fire and traffic helplines, too, remain ‘hotlines’ throughout the day, owing to which for most part of the day, the number remains busy and is extremely difficult to access. But thanks to the government railway police (GRP) helpline that was introduced to curb crime on running trains, the number now serves the public who are not travelling on train.
An official from the GRP 24-hour helpline centre said these days people call to inform on crimes happening in their locality and also ring up to inform of medical emergency. “We immediately pass on the information to nearby police stations and hospitals,” the official said.
Indian railways has an exclusive helpline, 139, which the public can access to make PNR number enquiry, reservation availability and train arrival/departure information. The service, that employs automatic answer generation system, however, is not much favoured by the Chennai public due to the slow process in furnishing information.
According to an official in the helpline department of Chennai corporation, they receive a minimum of 30 calls from Chennaiites per hour, and by the end of the day, the number of calls can be anywhere between 150 and 200. “Most of the complaints are regarding civic issues like streetlights not functioning, sewage overflow, potholes, garbage removal, etc. Once we register the complaint, it will be notified to the officials of the respective area depot who attend to the problem. We make sure that the problem is solved within a minimum time of two hours.”
“Since August 2005, Emergency Medical Research Institute (EMRI) has served over 42 lakh emergencies and saved over 51,000 lives. Each ambulance attends to an average of six emergencies a day. Rural emergency cases account for 65 per cent of the total emergencies of which 97 percentage are medical and 3 per cent cases are for police and fire. Out of the total medical emergencies, maternal complications have been the highest emergencies which account for 21 percentage of the total emergencies, followed by injuries (road accidents), which is 16 per cent, acute abdominal pain comprising 15 per cent, suicide attempts and cardiac account for 5 per cent each and respiratory problems account for 4 per cent of the total emergencies,” said Mr Venkat Changavalli, EMRI CEO.
However, Mr Ashwath Narayan, head of the call centre at EMRI, points out that children play with the helpline number resulting in the emergency line getting jammed. He says that the service receives at least 10-15 such calls a day.
Highly-placed sources in Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board (CMWSSB), requesting anonymity, told DC that the board receives about 17,000 complaints per month at the rate of 600 per day.
Sources confirmed that about 80 per cent of the complaints are rectified within three or four hours from the time of receiving the complaint. Some complaints may take even over a day since the fault might be in the main water distribution line or main sewer line which requires longer hours of repair, officials admitted.
The consumer helpline launched in November 2009 addresses complaints related to deficiency in courier services, mobile and Internet connections, ration shops, black marketing and LPG cylinders. Official source say that they are receiving an overwhelming response from consumers across the state.
“At least 50 consumers call up the helpline that functions between 9.30 am and 6 pm every day, to file their grievance. Once a complaint is registered, we immediately contact the government/private company officials and alert them. We ensure that the grievance is addressed as early as possible,” said an official.
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Deccan Chronicle called a few of the helplines to assess the different systems and here’s a lowdown on the responses
POLICE
Help line number: 100
Time called: 11 am
Response: Call disconnected soon after introduction
Estimated time taken for an action: Not known
(Repeated attempts to get connected proved futile)
Response rating: Not known
CORPORATION
Help line number: 1913
Time called: 1.50 pm
Response: Operator picked, requested the name, location and nature of the problem
Estimated time taken for an action: 2 to 8 hours
Response rating: GOOD
RAILWAY
Help line number: 139
Time called: 2.20 pm
Response: Automated response and slow processing
Estimated time taken for an action: 5 to 10 minutes
Response rating: AVERAGE
WILDLIFE
Help line number: 22200335
Time called: 4 pm
Response: Operator picked, requested the name, location and nature of the problem
Estimated time taken for an action: 2 to 5 hours
Response rating: GOOD
METROWATER
Help line number: 28454040
Time called: 2 pm
Response: Operator picked, requested the name, location and nature of the problem
Estimated time taken for an action: 2 hours to 24 hours
Response rating: GOOD
HEALTH
Help line number: 108
Time called: 4.30 pm
Response: Operator picked, requested the name, location and nature of the problem
Estimated time taken for an action: 20 to 30 minutes
Response rating: VERY GOOD
CONSUMER PROTECTION
Help line number: 28592828
Time called: 4.40 pm
Response: Operator picked, requested the name, location and nature of the problem
Estimated time taken for an action: 2 to 5 days
Response rating: GOOD
SENIOR CITIZENS
Help line number: 1253
Time called: 4.45 pm
Response: ‘Number does
not exist’
Estimated time taken for an action: Nil
Response rating: nil
