Rescue 1122 has decided to initiate legal action against the prank callers, as the toll of obnoxious calls in four years has reached the two million mark. The number continues to increase, therefore, the service has been compelled to take necessary legal action which includes imprisonment for six months or fine of rupees 50,000 or both, said Dr Rizwan Naseer, Director General Rescue 1122, here on Monday.
He said that as a result of the sensitising campaign, a few regular pranksters have stopped dialling the emergency number. The data reveals that out of 1,088,235 obnoxious calls received, 537,623 were from girls, 462,705 from boys, 32,437 from kids, 2,460 musical, and 51,450 abusive calls.
As a result of the effective monitoring and call recording software developed by the service, the number has been restricted to 0.01 percent. He informed that the repeated irrelevant callers are blocked so that a real caller does not find number busy and can be provided timely help in case of an emergency.
DG Rescue 1122 said that sudden increase in number sometimes results in failure of the availability of emergency number which is very unfortunate, adding that the service has tried several solutions which included blocking of callers, warnings and sensitising the caller about the significance and importance of the number.
He said that it is the duty and moral responsibility of every citizen to respect the emergency number. He said that they would still prefer that the citizens understand the significance and importance of the number and not try to deprive the emergency victims of their right to be provided timely rescue and medical treatment. This way, he said they would not have to initiate criminal proceedings against the obnoxious callers.