Over 1.21m calls received on Helpline 15 in September

LAHORE, Oct 05 (APP): More than 1.21 million calls were received on Punjab Emergency Helpline 15 during September, of which 240,249 were converted into cases for police assistance, the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) spokesperson said on Monday.

The spokesperson said a total of 1,214,644 calls were received during the month, including 220,751 calls from Lahore.

The Virtual Women Police Station received 37,781 calls and provided immediate police assistance in 9,546 cases, while the Virtual Centre for Child Safety received 45,403 calls and took action in 5,973 cases.

During the month, 3,364 missing children were traced and reunited with their families, the spokesperson said.

The Virtual Centre for Minorities received 30,506 calls and took action in 2,705 cases, while the Virtual Blood Bank received 31,498 calls related to medical emergencies, helping people in need of blood connect with donors.

The spokesperson said 19,206 calls seeking psychological support and guidance were also received, with trained psychologists providing counselling and necessary assistance.

The universal 15 service received 950 calls, with assistance provided in 467 cases. Another 177,869 calls were related to general information and guidance, while 72,978 traffic-related calls were handled during the month.

The authority also received 796,526 irrelevant and unnecessary calls on Emergency Helpline 15 during September.

The spokesperson urged citizens to use Helpline 15 responsibly and only for genuine emergencies and essential police assistance, stressing that unnecessary calls could affect timely access to emergency services for people in need.

He said Emergency Helpline 15 was providing citizens with prompt police assistance, information and a range of specialised public safety services.