Most of the telephone lines of the city police are not working. This has resulted in the public not being able to air their grievances to the local police officials. To make things worse, over 900 Centrex lines of the city were down for more than 20 days after a major fire accident at BSNL’s Harbour Exchange.
Every police station has been provided with a Centrex (central office exchange service) number along with a regular landline. In 135 stations, these numbers are often not in working condition.
No response
In addition to the landlines all police officers have been provided with mobile phones with closed user group (CUG) connections for easier access by the public.
However any complainant who calls these numbers will have a tough time as the police officials mostly do not respond.
The officers are using personal numbers to communicate among themselves.
A senior journalist said, “Sometimes, if you call a landline number, the staffer would say the mobile number of the police inspector should not be shared. The list of officers and their numbers have not been updated properly in recent times. Often the person at the other end would say that he was transferred a few months ago causing confusion.”
Harsha Koda, coordinator of the Federation of OMR Residents’ Associations (FOMRRA) said WhatsApp groups were started in 2017, connecting people with local police personnel.
The system was working well for one year after which the groups became ‘inactive’.
A precarious situation
The public are facing a precarious situation as most of them have no clue on whom to call during an emergency. They have no option but to call 100 which is the control room.
In a few instances, complainants are being admonished by the patrolling party for calling the control room.
The display boards containing telephone numbers of the stations concerned have now been replaced by digital banners containing a bouquet of social media helplines.
But they are being rarely used, as social media penetration is low.
Senior police officials admit 900 lines are down after the fire incident.
Efforts are on restore them, they said.
