Helpline stumbles, takes off
1 Jan 2013 11:33 PM GMT
A helpline for women set up with great fanfare by beleaguered Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit through advertisement in newspapers this morning itself appeared to be ‘helpless’ as it was not working.
Calls to the number were greeted by a long beep sound.
Dikshit had last week announced launch of the round- the-clock helpline for offering help to women in distress amid nationwide uproar over the 16 December brutal gangrape of the 23-year-old here. The girl had breathed her last on Saturday in a Singapore hospital.
Senior Delhi Government officials said the helpline could not be made functional due to some glitches in the MTNL network.
They said the helpline, which will operate from the Chief Minister’s office in Delhi Secretariat, can be contacted from landlines as well as mobile phones.
The Ministry had earlier allotted ‘167’ for the helpline but upon request for a number that would be easier to remember, the number was changed to ‘181’.
By evening, however, the problem was sorted out and the helpline became accessible also from mobile phone networks like Airtel, MTNL and Vodafone.
Calls to the number were greeted by a long beep sound.
Dikshit had last week announced launch of the round- the-clock helpline for offering help to women in distress amid nationwide uproar over the 16 December brutal gangrape of the 23-year-old here. The girl had breathed her last on Saturday in a Singapore hospital.
Senior Delhi Government officials said the helpline could not be made functional due to some glitches in the MTNL network.
They said the helpline, which will operate from the Chief Minister’s office in Delhi Secretariat, can be contacted from landlines as well as mobile phones.
The Ministry had earlier allotted ‘167’ for the helpline but upon request for a number that would be easier to remember, the number was changed to ‘181’.
By evening, however, the problem was sorted out and the helpline became accessible also from mobile phone networks like Airtel, MTNL and Vodafone.
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