Upadhyay needs help to get through mayor’s helpline

As he made the announcement, Gupta asked state BJP president Satish Upadhyay to make the first call to the helpline number — 9643096430. However, it took Upadhyay a few minutes to be able to get through. After dialling three or four times, Upadhyay raised the phone to say, “This is a great initiative of the corporation and I give you my best wishes in taking this forward.”

[related-post]

As counting for the deputy mayor’s position began, the opposition lashed out at the BJP for starting a helpline in a hurry and one that “does not function properly”.

The mayor’s helpline will be operational between 9 am and 5 pm on working days and will function from the mayor’s office at the MCD headquarters.

“For cases of corruption, the complainant will be directed to the Director of Vigilance and for cases of sanitation, the calls will be directly forwarded to the zonal deputy commissioners for Department of Environment Management Services or DEMS,” the mayor said.

The number is not toll-free for callers as the corporation wanted to allow access to internet messaging services to the number such as WhatsApp. “This is already functional and the DC will be the nodal officer for the helpline,” Gupta added.

The mayor has set a time limit of 24 hours for acting on citizens’ complaints.

“We will make sure that after the complaint is addressed, we call back the complainant and ask whether they are satisfied with our services,” the mayor said. He claimed that he along with the commissioner will monitor the helpline on a weekly basis.

Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Goel slammed the mayor’s helpline as “yet another move by the BJP that is aimed at fooling the people of Delhi”. Goel alleged that the party had previously come up with ideas to address grievances and yet nothing had come off these measures.