18 distress calls in a minute to Delhi Police helpline

New Delhi: The police control room in the national capital gets on an average 18 distress calls in one minute and the rate of such calls not being attended to or abandoned by the caller is barely one per cent.

This was stated by Minister of State for Home Hansraj G Ahir in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

"Delhi Police helpline number receives on an average 24,539 distress calls per day (24 hours). Apart from this, due to call rush, there are 321 abandoned (unanswered) calls per day on an average which gets dropped in the switch and cannot be answered by the call-taker," Ahir said.

There is a surge of distress calls at the Delhi Police Helpline no. 100 during the peak hours -- between 7 PM and 11 PM -- due to which some calls get placed in queue and some of them are also abandoned by the callers, he said, adding that Delhi Police has established a dedicated help desk in the Central Police Control Room to call back to those whose calls were abandoned.

Apart from this, regular briefing and close supervision of call-takers or operators are undertaken by the Delhi Police to ensure that minimum time is consumed in attending to the distress calls so as to reduce the number of calls in queue, he said.