According to the latest report, 90% of calls received on rescue and police emergency service 15 are fake, reveals the data shared by Punjab Safe City Authority.
The statistics came to light in the 92 News program ‘Subha Saweray Pakistan’. The statistics further claimed that nearly 70% of the callers are children.
The report further claims that 9000 turn out to be fake and bogus from the total of 10,000 calls received every day. The authority has now decided to take action against the fake callers to deter the potential miscreants.
COO of Punjab Safe City Authority, Muhammad Kamran, said that the bulk of fake callers occupy the phone lines of the emergency services that cost the time of authentic callers.
He described three categories of people that make bogus calls- children, people with mental disorders, and fake callers for fun.
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He said, in most cases, parents provide children with numbers of emergency services to play. COO Kamran added that since the emergency services are toll-free, parents are not bothered about the cost of the call charges.
COO PSCA Muhammad Kamran Khan brief regarding "15 Hoax calls and Installation of Modern Tablets in PRU Vehicles" in Morning Show of “Subh Savaray Pakistan” 92 News
Watch full video on:https://t.co/AY980cbt1n#PSCA #PPIC3 #92NewsHDPlus pic.twitter.com/G3jTQkQqq8
— Safe City (@PSCAsafecities) October 13, 2021
In the second category comes people with mental disorders who make calls continuously despite being guided. In the third category comes the pranksters who call to kill their time. Fake calls are impediments that decrease the response time of emergency services to the potential callers.
Legal action to be taken soon
Kamran said that they are planning legal action against them. Laws are currently present to deter them however, they have asked the government to introduce further amendments in the law to increase the effectiveness of the emergency services.
He further added that they have reached out to the telecommunication companies as well. Telecommunication companies have given guidelines that will be implemented in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Kamran also said that they have contacted Lahore Police to take action against the habitual pranksters who continue to create disturbance despite warnings. They have shared their contact details with Police. Police will reach out to them to educate them. Legal action will be taken if they refuse to comply with rules.
Kamran said that on average they received 60,000 to 70,000 calls from across Punjab daily. Out of which almost half of them are fake. He said that from September last year they initiated a campaign to educate and created awareness among the top 200 hoax callers from Lahore. The results have been encouraging as 93% of the hoax callers showed a positive response and bogus calls from these numbers have been significantly reduced. These numbers are being monitored and under surveillance for the past year.
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However, 7% of these people are still misusing the emergency services hence action will be taken against them. He said that these numbers can be temporarily blocked by the emergency services for approximately one to two hours. Hence, they have contacted concerned authorities to take strict action against them