Punjab today became the first State in the country to launch a multimode Police helpline for women, children, senior citizens and NRIs to attend to their grievances in a time bound manner. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today while dedicating the toll free 181 Police Helpline to the people of State, said this would be the only helpline in the country which would ensure complete satisfaction of complainants. “No complaint will be disposed off till the complainant is satisfied that his grievance has been addressed”, he said. The Deputy CM also inaugurated the newly established NRI and Women Wing on the occasion.Speaking on the occasion Mr. Badal said the toll free help line as well as NRI and Women Wings established at Mohali in a special custom designed building, was among the initiatives taken by the SAD-BJP government to make the police force accountable to the people.
Explaining how the system would work to newsmen, Mr Badal said any citizen could register his complaint for delaying tactics of police or in anonymity complain about drug abuse, anti social elements or any problem of lawlessness or corruption prevailing in any area of the State. He said in order to ensure complete professionalism, the helpline work had been outsourced to a private company Ziqitza which would set up a 20 seat call center with a dedicated clinical psychologist as counselors to patiently listen to the aggrieved party and come out with a solution.The Deputy CM said that this newly launched helpline having multiple modes of contact over phone, sms, fax, email and web-portal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week was geared up to ensure quick and easy access to police for police response, support, assistance and response, reporting of about crime and criminals as well as follow-up of complaints made to different police units/offices.
Giving the details of the Helpline, the Punjab DGP Mr. Sumedh Singh Saini said the helpline would aim to provide “security with dignity” and that police personnel who would be manning the 20 seater Punjab Police Call Centre which will be managed by Ziqitza had been given extensive training and were earlier involved in managing the “108 Ambulance Service” in the State.The DGP said dedicated help-desks for Women, Children, Senior citizens and NRIs along with 24x7 availability of professional Counselors’ and psychologists’ were the highlights of this only-one-of-its kind initiative. He said another feature of this helpline would be an assured time-bound response, to be achieved through persistent follow-up by Case Coordinators. Independent Citizen Feedback through a non-police interface would also be taken, he added.
Mr. Dinkar Gupta, ADGP Law and Order said the helpline aimed at improving the accessibility and accountability of the State police and enlisting the participation of the community through their valuable suggestions and feedback from citizens. He said the helpline could also help in the reporting of rowdyism, vandalism, drug abuse, eve-teasing and traffic violations. Mr Gupta said people reporting malpractices would be ensured of confidentiality. Another feature of this facility is that all calls would be recorded to ensure quality of service & discourage misuse of this helpline, he added.
The multiple modes of contact for this helpline include; Dial 181 from phone, SMS at 7696-181-181, Fax no.-0172-6626181, [email protected] and portal-www.181pph.com. When calling from abroad, please call 0091-172-2298543. The NRI and Women Wing which has been integrated with the 181 Punjab Police Helpline shall monitor all complaints pertaining to NRIs, Women, Senior Citizens and Children received over the Punjab Police Helpline.
It may be mentioned here that the existing office of IGP/NRI Affairs at Punjab Police Headquarters, Sector-9, Chandigarh has been relocated and established as an independent wing in SAS Nagar under an IG rank officer. IGP NRI & Women Wing shall be assisted by DIG/NRI and Women Wing and a team of SPs and DSPs. Eight existing NRI Police Stations at Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Ludhian Rural, Moga, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar shall now work under the direct supervision of NRI and Women Wing.The NRI Wing shall be the nodal authority at the state level for monitoring inquiries/investigations involving NRIs, Women, Senior Citizens and Children. The Wing shall receive complaints on [email protected] to enable NRIs to communicate with the Wing from abroad.NRIs shall also be able to contact senior officers of the NRI Wing at Telephone Nos. 0172-2260042, 2260043. Nodal officers of the rank of Inspector and above shall attend to the complaints of the NRIs at the NRI Wing Headquarters and liaison with District/Units for redressing NRIs grievances. The Wing shall provide a time bound response to NRIs regarding the status of their cases through a dedicated case ID number.