KARACHI, May 26: Apart from distress calls about robberies and other crimes, the police helpline known as Madadgar 15 is usually flooded by a large number of irrelevant calls, including dumb calls and those made by children for fun.
A survey of different 15 units conducted by Dawn shows that callers also lodge utility complaints about power outage and water shortage. Officials in charge of the units say that following orders by the provincial police chief their staff pass on civic complaints to the agencies concerned.
Though on several occasions the police helpline has proved instrumental in arrest of criminals by timely responding to crises, the Madadgar 15 force seems to be not doing too well with its limited number of dilapidated vehicles.
“The number of police mobiles has dwindled and the helpline has been provided with motorcycles. But two-wheelers are a poor replacement for police mobiles,” remarked a police officer.
A glaring instance of the administrations’s priorities at the cost of taxpayers money is the Madadgar 15 police mobile (SP-5468) stationed outside the US Consulate.
The helpline often conveys distress calls to police stations concerned.
A small room with two officers on duty with four telephone sets, a wireless set and two folding chairs; this is Madadgar 15 Central.
Located in the office of the TPO Gulberg Town situated adjacent to the Gulberg police station, the 15 office is without any cross ventilation.
Allotted four police mobiles in 2000, the Madadgar 15 Central is at present working with two mobiles and ten motorcycles.
One year back a 15 Central mobile was damaged in a road traffic accident at the Five Star roundabout in North Nazimabad. After repair the vehicle was handed over to the DSP Azizabad by the authorities concerned. Officials at the 15 protested in vain.
The second mobile remains parked at the Nazimabad Chowrangi 1, beside a police picket, reportedly with no engine.
The vehicle was also sent for repair but never returned to the place it was originally sanctioned for, sources said.
The 15 staff were provided with meals twice a day by the Sindh government, but soon the meals were discontinued.
15 Central covers four towns— New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad and Gulberg.
Stressing the importance of correct information, a police official said that recently a robbery was committed in North Nazimabad in which a man was shot dead.
The initial address provided was incorrect. The mobile reached the wrong address and kept on searching the house. Meanwhile, a few streets away the robbers managed to escape after shooting the man, the official said.
But the sources cite another recent incident in which a shop was looted by two armed men in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in the limits of the Shahrae Faisal police station. The shopkeeper immediately informed the police on 15 at 1:30pm. But he received no response for several hours.
The most common complaint against “Madadgar 15” is that calls are not attended and irrelevant questions are asked.
TPO Clifton, Munir Ahmed Shaikh, told Dawn, that to rectify the situation a computer software was being installed at the Clifton 15.
Following the installation of the software, every incoming call would be visible at the computer monitor.
“We would be able to know after how many rings the call had been attended by the duty officer. Every incoming call will be monitored and duly recorded on the data, thus the excuse of missed calls will no longer exist,” the TPO said.
The software has been developed by an information technology expert who is a faculty member at one of the leading IT institutes of the city.
A police official said the expert had decided to donate the software to the police department at a simple ceremony tentatively scheduled for the current month.
However, the Clifton Madadgar 15, recently commissioned by the IG Sindh, despite its good appearance lacks some basic facilities.
It lacks washrooms and the duty staff depend on the nearby Saddar police station for the said purpose.
The sources say that officials thing that policemen are often posted to Madadgar 15 as a form of punishment.
“Those who work harder and are considered efficient never get posted to Madadgar 15, but to a police station in the operation wing,” a source said.
