Fake and abusive calls continue to plague Odisha government's Covid Helpline Number - 104 - set up to help people avail information regarding Covid and related queries. As per reports, several female assistants of the call centre alleged that callers are harassing them on pretext of getting Covid related information.
Not only this, seeking advice from health experts, the callers when the call is transferred, misbehave with doctors too. It has been alleged that several callers use offensive language and pester them by repeatedly calling the Helpline.
Ziqitza Health Care limited (ZHL), the company that is operating the Dial 104 Helpdesk services of the Odisha government, has lodged a complaint with Saheed Nagar Police in Bhubaneswar against such prank calls and has sought action. In the complaint, the company highlighted 30 mobile numbers which were found frequently calling the desk and harassing female agents, and even the doctors.
One such number in the list was noted to have made 492 calls to the helpdesk. The firm's complaint mentioned that such trunk calls where people use abusive language and pass sexually colored remarks demotivate their call centre staff who are currently on emergency services.
As per sources, these fake call records are from January till end of May of this year. The company claims to have lodged a similar complaint in April last year regarding fake callers misbehaving and holding up the emergency call services during the pandemic.