Karachi police chief reviews steps taken by emergency response centre

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon paid a visit to the Sindh Police’s Emergency Response and Crisis Management Centre on Friday and reviewed the measures adopted by it for dealing with the coronavirus emergency.

Talking to The News, DIG Maqsood Memon, chief of the Sindh Police Security Division, said Additional IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon visited the centre recently established at the SSU Headquarters and reviewed the measures taken so far.

Upon arrival, Memon was presented with a guard of honour. Later, he addressed the police reserve force and instructed the personnel to take special precautions while performing duties with regard to the coronavirus lockdown.

He was briefed about the capabilities and effectiveness of the Crisis Management Centre, which has been established to provide timely and effective safety guidance to the public amid the coronavirus crisis.

The centre is connected to the Karachi commissioner's office, the PDMA and the Sindh IGP office. It has also been linked to Madadgar-15 call centres and command and control room to enhance its effectiveness. It will update officers and relevant agencies on the current situation.

DIG Memon, sharing details of the Citizen-Monitoring Application, said that since its inauguration on March 27 to date, the staff had checked 20,866 citizens of whom 462 had repeated violations. On Friday, they registered 173 people of whom 99 were found to have repeated violations.

He said the center had been operational since March 15, 2020, and its Command Center & Control Room was located at the SSU Headquarters, Hassan Square.

It is coordinating with all emergency/utility departments/authorities for general public and stakeholders of civil society on behalf of the Karachi Police. The objective is to extend maximum help, provide guidance and create mass awareness in the current situation and also make critical information quickly accessible.

The centre is also inked with different welfare and charitable organisations. The DIG Security is heading the operations. At the Command Centre, three eight-hour shifts are working 24/7 under the supervision of a DSP per shift.

The Madadgar 15 Call Centre is assisting the Command Centre for timely response and coordination with stakeholders for the provision of protective action for life safety, i.e. medical, firefighting, rescue and food supplies.

It will also issue warnings, notifications, communications and links to emergency planning information, besides sharing daily reports about the overall situation, police deployment plans and relevant information with officials and authorities, keeping track of all resources and manage deployments as per requirements.

The Emergency Numbers: Police Emergency Response & Crisis Management Center (PER&CMC): 021-99244645, 021-99244631, 021-99244650, 021-99244651, WhatsApp/SMS/Call at 0300-9111115 and for all emergencies, Madadgar-15.