HYDERABAD: The 108 emergency services were hit as an optical fibre cable got cut on ORR near Shamshabad making it difficult for people to connect with the emergency services. The services snapped on August 20 evening and the problem continued till August 21 afternoon. Around 40,000 calls are received by 108 services every day from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. There are 316 ambulances in TS and 436 in Andhra Pradesh.
The call centre for both the states is operated from Hyderabad. The main office continues to be in Hyderabad and has not been divided. From August 20 to August 21, only 25 per cent calls were being received at the call centre. People had a lot of problems connecting to the number and the waiting time was around five to 10 minutes. Ashok Palle, president of Telangana 108 Employee Association, said, “There are 42 ambulances in GHMC limits. Each ambulance driver gets at least six to seven calls a day. But due to lack of connectivity only one call was received per ambulance on Monday.” In rural areas, drivers get two to four calls every day.
“The optic fibre snapped due to digging. The backup lines took the calls but as the numbers were high the waiting period was more. Some callers had to wait. Others had difficulty connecting and some of them must have found it difficult to get through. BSNL rectified the problem. The fibre has been reconnected and the situation will be normal by evening,” Mr Brhamand Rao, the chief operating officer of 108 services said.
