PSCA traces, warns pranksters

Seeks blocking of SIMS over repeated misuse of emergency helpline

LAHORE:

About 2,300 of 2,400 citizens found involved in making repeated unnecessary calls to the Emergency Helpline 15 during the past year have desisted from the act after being traced and warned by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA).

The authority began collecting data of those making false emergency phone calls after it was revealed that over 80 per cent of the calls received daily through the free service were frivolous. It began collecting data of such callers and calling them back to issue warnings. During the year, about 2,400 people who repeatedly made unnecessary calls were pinpointed and 2,300 of them have responded positively to the warnings.

The Safe Cities Authority has reportedly submitted recommendations to the government to block the mobile phone SIMs of those making obnoxious phone calls on the helpline despite warnings and force them to pay charges.

The helpline was set up to provide immediate assistance to the citizens in case of emergency but widespread misuse of the facility was noted, prompting the authority to contact the irresponsible callers and warn them.

PSCA Chief Operating Officer Muhammad Kamran Khan told The Express Tribune that the Emergency Helpline 15 in Lahore and Pukar 15 across the province received more than 2.2 million phone calls every month but over 85% of them were false and unnecessary.

When the authority compiled the data of frequent callers, the phone numbers of around 2,400 people involved in teasing the operators and wasting time were traced.

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The official said the move to contact such callers and warn them had proved successful and 2,300 of them had stopped dialing the helpline.

He said legal action would be taken against the remaining 100 people who had not stopped making frivolous phone calls.

However, according to police sources, the details and phone numbers of the fake callers on the emergency helpline have not been provided to Lahore police by the Safe Cities Authority. As a result, registration of cases against them under the Telegraph Act is being delayed.

A telephone operator of the helpline complained that many citizens had treated the service a source of entertainment. Some callers said they were bored and wanted to gossip. One caller had asked the operators to check from the cameras installed in the city by the authority if a shop was open.

The operators some people resorted to teasing the female or giving their phones to children after contacting the helpline. A resident of Lahore, Amna Zehra, said she had so far been compelled to call the helpline thrice because of a car accident and harassment, but had found the phone line busy. She said that when the calls were received after several attempts, she complained to the operators about the delay.

Zehra said those who made such unnecessary calls must realize that not only the phone operators and the police, but the citizens also had to face difficulties because of their irresponsible attitude. Edhi Foundation Faisal Jalal said while replying to a question that 15 was an emergency helpline number that should be should be used responsibly.

He said the citizens should only call the helpline in case an emergency so that people could get timely help of the police and the public resources were not wasted.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2021.