Punjab Police on Saturday said it had further scaled up its citizen support systems, including the 112 helpline and supply of essentials, to cope with the emergency situation arising out of the imposition of curfew in the State in the light of COVID-19 crisis.
To improve its response time and cope with the increased pressure on 112 helpline, Punjab Police augmented the capacity of the 112 call centre by adding 11 workstations, raising its capacity to 53. A total of 159 personnel are manning the stations, working in three shifts, according to DGP Dinkar Gupta.
Operators from Punjab Police Saanjh Kendras and private BPOs have been roped in and were on Friday provided training to join the 112 workforce, said the DGP. The workstations were earlier, on Thursday, increased from 32 to 42.
Punjab Government is also in talks with a private BPO firm for hiring a functional 100-operator station to augment/supplement the capacity of 112, said the DGP, adding that they will join the existing workforce soon.
According to Gupta, while in normal times, the number of calls received on DIAL 112 was around 4000-5000, this has gone up to over 17000 in the past few days. Of these, around 60% are related to COVID-19 related issues, including provision of essential commodities, emergency medical conditions & curfew related issues, curfew/lockdown, ambulance service, suspected individuals, among others.
The callers are directed to District Control Rooms or 104/108 for any health related queries, Ambulance etc. Those related to provision of medicines, groceries and other essential commodities are provided with the phone number of the District War Rooms set up by Deputy Commissioners, concerned official or local vendors as per requirements.
A statement issued here said the system helped 55 families migrant labourers from Bihar, residing in Ludhiana, get dry rations on Friday.
In Raja Sansi (Amritsar), groceries were provided to 30-35 families by the SHO in coordination with the local Gurudwara, while in Muchal village in Amritsar (Rural), a woman who had recently delivered a baby was rushed to hospital in distress. The Mohali police also responded to similar calls to provide Dry Ration to 500 families & one cooked meal for immediate consumption on Friday.
The Punjab Police has also stepped up its relief operations and supplied 223605 packets on Saturday – an increase of 19% from Friday. In the last three days, a total of 542000 units of food have been distributed among 27 districts.
URBAN LOCAL BODIES TO USE FUNDS TO HELP URBAN POOR, DAILY WAGERS & LABOURERS
A day after he authorized Sarpanches to use Panchayat Funds to help out people in villages, Punjab Chief Minister Cap Amarinder Singh on Saturday empowered the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state to buy medicines and food for urban daily wagers, labourers and poor, as well as fodder for Gaushalas, out of the Municipal Funds at their disposal.
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that detailed instructions have been issued in this regard by the Local Government Department to enable all the Municipal Corporations, Committees and Councils/Nagar Panchayats to bear the necessary expenditure on this count to mitigate the hardships faced by the urban poor amid the curfew imposed in the state in the light of the COVID-19 crisis.
Declaring these expenses as fit charge in view of the prevailing crisis, Capt Amarinder Singh has directed the Local Government Department to utilise the municipal funds under the relevant provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976 and of Punjab Municipal Act 1911.
Given the large populations in these cities, the Municipal Corporations of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar have been empowered with daily expenditure of Rs 1 lakh, subject to maximum limit of Rs 20 lakh for the entire period of lockdown/curfew.
The other Municipal Corporations would be entitled to spend up to Rs 50,000 daily, subject to maximum Rs 10 lakh during the lockdown/curfew period.
Likewise, the Nagar Councils (A- Class Municipal Committees) have been empowered to incur expenditure of Rs 25,000 daily, with maximum limit of expenditure up to Rs 5 lakh during the period of lockdown and curfew. The Nagar Councils (Class B & C)/Nagar Panchayats would be eligible to bear expenditure of Rs 15000 daily on this count, subject to maximum amount of Rs 2.5 lakh during the entire lockdown and curfew period.
On Friday, the Chief Minister had authorized Sarpanches to use Panchayat funds to provide emergency relief to the poor and needy.
