24x7 wildlife helpline sees 200 calls daily

Mumbai: The 24x7 helpline ‘Hello Forest’, which was inaugurated by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on January 5 to respond to emergencies and enquiries related to wild life, has been receiving around 200 calls per day.

According to data collected by the forest department, citizens of the state have not only been updating the department but also raising specific concerns that require immediate action from the department.

The department will work towards making improvements based on the feedback it receives. According to the department, there have been few call drop issues, which are on the priority list of things that the department needs to rectify. An official explained, “The executives, who are working in three shifts, have been getting a good amount of calls but as of now there have been few call drops that are being worked on.” The forest officials, with the help of regular video conferencing throughout the state, aim to make the service more user-friendly.   

The Goregaon (west)-based call centre catering to the entire state has been looked after by a separate panel of 12 experts who are referred to, in case there are any issues faced by the call centre. In the Invoice Interactive Response (IVR), if a person calls up to report an emergency, he will be asked to directly dial ‘0’ and is connected to the attendee, who will connect the person to the field officer of the mentioned area via conference call in order to determine the location being discussed. Once the issue is resolved, the caller will be informed. In case of other inquiries a person calling is given four options, is asked to introduce himself in the language of his choice and then given contact numbers and general information. All the eight people have been selected after their Marathi, Hindi and English skills were tested.