The Mumbai Traffic police help line has, in a week’s time, received about 1,350 phone calls and 850 WhatsApp messages on their help line number — 8454 999 999 — launched last Tuesday. Joint commissioner of police, traffic, Milind Bharambe told The Asian Age that the response has been “decent” and they are undertaking measures to publicise the number as they believe many in Mumbai are still not aware of the facility. The app has been downloaded 450 times, informed an official from the company that developed the app.
“Due to the Diwali season we could not garner much public attention. But now we will undertake several measures to generate public awareness about the number. We want everyone in Mumbai to avail this facility,” said Mr Bharambe.
The traffic police will soon put up hoardings of the number in public places, traffic signals on arterial roads, major traffic junctions and places with high footfalls. They will take help of radio and private FM channels to make people aware of the help line and put the number on every traffic police chowki and police vehicles. “We are in talks with taxi and rickshaw unions who can help us with live traffic updates and also avail the service,” said a traffic police official.
Out of the 1,350 phone calls received, a majority are motorists asking for a route advisory so they are able to choose a road with less traffic before starting their journey.
Santosh Tamkar, assistant VP of Spectrum, which helped in developing the mobile application — MTPcall — on GooglePlay store for Android mobiles said, “The app has been downloaded 450 times. We have received complaints like illegal parking through the application. People have also used it to get information on towed vehicles, fine amount for specific violations. There are also aggravated complaints and we relay the information soon to traffic police for appropriate action.”
