Ranchi: “I have been calling for the last couple of days to get the Hanuman Chalisa as my caller tune. Can you please help me?” a caller asked at the voter ID helpline (1950).“I haven’t received my pension this month. Can you please look into it?” asked a lady caller.The helpline 1950, set up at the Ranchi Deputy Commissioner’s residential office to take care of complaints related to voter IDs, enrolments and other issues is turning out to be helpline for all aggrieved residents. Most of the time this number remains busy with calls seeking relief in matters beyond elections . The helpline operators are at a loss as to how they should deal with them.“We are getting calls on a daily basis, not just asking to set caller tunes but also making queries about Aadhaar , old age pensions, ration cards and so on,” said an attendant. On an average, 60 calls come to this number, out of which 30% are hoax , said officials. Set up in January, this cell is working from 9am-9pm. In each shift, there are two operators. They, however, added that many genuine callers with real complaints have also registered their grievances and got them resolved.Figures suggest around 2,000 calls have been made at this helpline in this district, which houses seven assembly constituencies— Tamar, Silli, Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke , Khijri and Mandar. Among the genuine callers, officials here said the calls were on the shoddy work of booth level officers (BLOs) alleging that many applicants have not received any text message on their mobiles even after a month of submitting their forms for voter cards.The Kanke assembly segment tops the list with the maximum number of complaints. “We have also received complaints that voters have not received the election card 30 days after submission of details. We have forwarded such complaints to the authorities,” said another attendant.Speaking to TOI, Shashi Nilima Dundung, executive magistrate who is coordinating the helpline, said they are focusing only on genuine calls. “All the genuine complaints that are reaching us are being transferred to the respective assistant electoral registration officer in a particular assembly area. We also try to do follow-ups. As far as hoax calls are concerned, we can’t do much other than sensitise a caller,” she said.

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