Kolkata: In a bid to simplify the process through which elderly citizens can inform the local police station about their servants, caregivers, or even utility service providers, Lalbazar has asked all local police stations to accept emails sent to them by the elderly. The development comes days after the recent murders of two women at New Garia and Sealdah by a caregiver and a utility service provider.
At present, the Kolkata Police's ‘Bandhu' app provides a way to report any unknown outsiders staying in a house, such as tenants, paying guests, or domestic helpers. However, according to Lalbazar's ‘register', most city residents do not pay attention to this system. Many senior citizens are also unable to keep up with technology, leading to gaps in citizen safety. "While the form to fill up information – and the subsequent verification – for the servants and caregivers has been simplified, the final idea is to ensure that the local police at least know that someone from outside has come to stay with the elderly and has some basic information about the outsider. As such, an email is a good beginning. We might introduce one single number through which such information is collected. Discussions in this regard are presently going on under instructions from commissioner Manoj Verma," said an officer. | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataSources say that during the present murder investigation at New Garia, it was found that the elderly woman was nearly 80 years old and unable to move much. Her husband was ill and bedridden. Both her son and daughter live outside Kolkata for work. Although there was a smartphone in the house, the elderly woman could not inform the police about the new domestic helper through the app.
Noticing this issue, police commissioner Manojkumar Verma held a meeting with senior cops. "He instructed that the ‘Bandhu' app be simplified for senior citizens. His clear directive is that providing information to the police is the most crucial aspect, regardless of how it reaches them. Therefore, he has also instructed the creation of guidelines on how ordinary people can provide all necessary information and documents about new tenants, paying guests, or domestic helpers to the police via WhatsApp or phone calls," said a senior officer.
At a city event earlier, the commissioner said that KP has the ‘Bandhu' app for people to inform the police about domestic helpers and tenants. "However, we have already held a meeting on how to report information about outsiders more easily and quickly to the police," he said.
According to Lalbazar sources, this meeting involved the community police wing. They have been asked to prepare a list of the number of senior citizens under the 'Pranam' scheme in each police station area. Each police station has a WhatsApp number which the top brass wanted to widely circulate and use.
"Instructions have been given to conduct a survey on how sending documents and photos of any unknown outsiders staying in a house to this WhatsApp number will benefit the general public. Efforts are being made to complete this task quickly," said a senior cop at Lalbazar.