KARACHI: The Karachi police are preparing to propose legislation to charge people using its helpline, Madadgar-15, for prank calls in a move to revive the key service of the law enforcement agency which includes the consideration of outsourcing the crucial segment of policing in the city, a senior official said on Sunday.

A recent debate at a meeting presided over by Sindh IG A. D. Khowaja on the police service Madadgar-15 led to several decisions which included placing the service under the Karachi police and a four-member committee led by DIG-South to propose measures for its revival and effective operation. The meeting also considered several steps, including proposal of legislation for prank callers and outsourcing of the service to a private company for effective results.

“More than four million calls were received on Madadgar-15 last year,” said an official citing the recently-compiled data. “But unfortunately more than 3.5 million or, to be exact, 3,522,434 were prank calls. There has been no action against these callers who wasted energy, money and time of the police in a city where combating crime and effective policing is a huge challenge.”

So it was decided, he said, that a proposal would be forwarded to the provincial government for strong and immediate legislation that allowed police to move against such callers. The people who made such prank calls were traced most of the time but no serious action could be taken against them due to the absence of a particular law which could become an example for others and restrain them from doing such illegal calls, he added.

On Saturday, a meeting chaired by the Sindh IG decided that the Madadgar 15 call centre would now work under the supervision of the Karachi police. The spokesman for the Sindh police said the meeting discussed ways to upgrade Madadgar 15, which was earlier working under the special security unit (SSU) Sindh, and reviewed steps to effectively curb crime.

DIG-South Munir Shaikh was appointed focal person and a four-member technology committee has also been formed.

The meeting called for evolving a standing operating procedure for acquiring software and technological equipment so that approval for purchasing it could be sought from the Sindh government. The IGP stated that in every police station in Karachi there should be a mobile with police deployment for Madadgar 15 and required steps should be taken for a quick response.

“Currently Madadgar-15 has 35 lines,” said the official. “It means that 35 people can call at a time. However, there is a need to increase the number of lines and technological training of the people receiving the calls. For that, it was discussed in the meeting that the option of outsourcing the service can work in a better way. The committee under the DIG-South would now look into the options and propose its recommendations to the high-ups for a final decision.”

Madadgar-15, established in 2000 at the central police office, was decentralised in 2007 but the decision was reversed in 2008 and it was again centralised at the CPO. The service was recently handed over to the SSU but the Saturday meeting decided to place it under the Karachi police.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2016