Don’t call these Pune office landline numbers, they don’t work. Here’s a list that needs to be fixed

Post office to transport, education board to local administration: The Indian Express called over 100 helpline landline numbers listed by the government…here’s a heads-up

Phone numbers of many key government offices in Pune, which are widely shared through their websites and official documents, are not working. (Representational image)

Written by: Atikh Rashid

4 min readPuneFeb 7, 2024 10:59 AM IST First published on: Jan 15, 2024 at 01:28 AM IST

The disconnected ones:

THE POST OFFICE
Communication may be the key, but it’s certainly not one that opens the doors to assistance at the City Post or Swargate Post Office. These landlines phone have been dead for some, mostly due to damage during road digging. Some numbers had changed but these new numbers havent been updated on the billboards and website. “We are trying to fix the lines not working and checking our websites too. If the numbers are mismatched they will be rectified by the Postal IT team, Mysore,” said Nagesh Dukre, deputy manager of Business Development, India Post, Pune region.

STATE TRANSPORT
Want to check on bus schedules? Or trace a valuable left behind in a bus? You are not likely to get the information from landline numbers of important MSRTC stations in Pune, like Swargate, Pune Station and Vallabhnagar in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Bhushan Suryawanshi, depot manager of Swargate said that the phone was disconnected because of ongoing metro work and a request has been submitted to provide an alternative number.

ZILLA PARISHAD
With urban services like the Education Department Offices and the District Health Office falling under Zilla Parishad, the contact number of ZP Education Officer (Secondary) was non-functional as was the landline number of the District Health Officer. ZP Education Officer (Secondary) Kamala Kant Mhetre said he will fix the dead phone soon, while District Health Officer Dr Sachin Desai said there was a billing issue, that has been cleared but the line isn’t back yet.

EDUCATION OFFICES
Pune hosts the headquarters of important educational departments including the School Education Commissionerate, Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, and Maharashtra State Council for Examination, but their phones are down. Maharashtra State Board secretary Anuradha Oak said, “Some numbers face issues, mostly because of the BSNL lines being disconnected during digging. We regularly take any telephone calls we get in our state board office.” The estate officer added, “The BSNL lines were disrupted a few days ago due to the metro construction work at the University Chowk.”

PUNE POLICE
The Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) at Pune Police Commissionerate which is frequented by students and visitors from other countries cannot be reached. Officials at FRO said that the number has been dysfunctional for a while. DCP Himmat Jadhav promised to look into the issue.

DEPUTY REGISTRAR OF CO-OPERATIVES
The situation is no different in the office of Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies (Pune City), an important office for representatives of the housing societies in the city, with the publicised number of the officers being out of order.

pune helpline mumbers

Those that connect:

POLICE STATIONS
Calls to most of the 31 police stations in Pune city limits were answered at first go, at others they were answered on subsequent attempts. The main points of contact for citizens and police remain the police control room numbers 100 and 112.

MAHARSHATRA STATE ELCTRICITY DISTRRIBUTION COMPANY LTD.
At MSEDCL consumers register their complaints through the toll-free number, portal, mobile app, and social media such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook for billing complaints, power-related complaints, and queries for various applications. Landline numbers have been phased out since 2014, an official spokesperson said. Across Maharashtra a centralized toll-free number is available. PMC and PCMC The Pune Municipal Corporation has an efficient telephone exchange for 12 hours after which the security attends the calls.

It has given one connection to each of the 16 ward offices with multiple extensions to civic departments and officers. It also has a landline connection for each of its hospitals and a dedicated exchange for the fire department with four lines. And they all work. It pays a bill of Rs five lakh per month for telephone services. Plus the PMC has started a call centre for the convenience of the public. At Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation most of the ward officers and Important departments like drainage road and health have landlines and mobile numbers listed on their website. An officer of the E ward office said, “Most landlines are working but in case they are not the citizens can connect with the officers directly on their mobile numbers.”