Helpless Pimple Saudagar resident dials Police Control room ; receives no response despite repeated calls

Akash Dhanurkar

In a shocking late night incident that took place in Pimple Saudagar on Saturday, 19/12/20, at around 1:00 – 2:00 am, from PNB Bank, due to a technical problem, has come as an eye opener for the residents when the Police Control Room of Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissionerate failed or remained inactive during the crucial hour that needed the attention of the Police Department, as suggested by the prime witness of the incident, Abhay Wani from the Shiv Angan Society, Pimple Saudagar.  

At around 1:00 am, Abhay Wani was alerted by the security guards of his apartment about the siren buzzing from within the bank, prima facie occuring as theft. Abhay Wani decided to call the Police control room first, through ‘100’ number, but initially, the calls were automatically dropped. Further, when he called control room frequently, the calls went unanswered, according to the call logs shared by Abhay Wani. Almost eight calls were made, out of which none were answered.  

When Pune Pulse reached out to Abhay Wani, he complained that “Ineffectiveness of the Police Control room was reflected last night. The newly appointed CP, Krishna Prakash, has time and again stressed on the need for citizens to help the Police. But it is unfortunate that the control room itself is unreachable.” 

The Bank representative who requested anonymity, said, “This is the matter of secrecy and hence we do not want to raise this issue on any level.”
Contradicting to the Bank, Wani replied, “This is an issue of public interest because it disturbed us, the residents. If it is a matter of secrecy then why would you let the siren break the sleep of citizens?”

Abhay Wani has also stressed that such inaction and ineffectiveness of the control room may have caused an untoward incident to a woman during such a crucial.hour. What would, any person running in danger, do if the control room is unreachable? 

Pune Pulse tried to escalate this issue to Police Commissioner, Krishna Prakash, but he did not respond to the calls. So, we put this issue to the attention of PSI Rahul Bhandare, incharge of Police Control Room, Pimpri Chinchwad. He has said that he will take a note of the calls that were attended last night, and also look for the solution to why the calls were dropped.