HYDERABAD: "Mera dil jal raha he. Tu jaldi aaja." (My heart is on fire, please come soon).

"I am alone in the house. Can you come now?"

Wait. It's not girls or housewives who are getting these naughty telephone calls.

Officials attending calls on 101 and 100 of the Fire Services Department, City and Cyberabad Police Commissionerates are flooded with such calls everyday. Adding to their woes, blank and prank calls made by children are also causing nuisance. The problem hits a peak on Sundays and public holidays.

Amazingly, a girl used to dial 100 at least 20 times a day till last week and speak with the policemen saying that she was alone in the house and requesting them to visit her house.

This was despite she knowing pretty well the fact that the number was that of the police. Unable to bear the nuisance, the police gave a stringent warning to her and made it clear that a case would be booked against her if she continued her "distress calls".

In one instance, a woman used to repeatedly call the Fire Control Room from Banjara Hills and then hand over the receiver to her baby, whenever the latter refused to eat food.

When authorities traced the woman using the caller identification system, she promised that she would not disturb them. In some cases, children dial either 100 or 101 and later keep the receiver aside.

And then come the drunkards. Police and Fire personnel on night shifts have to tolerate hundreds of calls from inebriated people who call and shower them with the choicest of abuses.

"We simply disconnect the line instead of arguing with them. The problem is that a genuine caller might be trying and not be able to get through to us because of these prank calls," a police official said.

"The Government has provided toll free numbers for the benefit of the people, but many are misusing them," another senior official said. He explained only 10 per cent of the calls were genuine out of 1,000 calls received at the Fire Control Room.

On the other hand, only 200 of the 6,000 calls received at the City Police Control Room were genuine! Calls were made from both mobile and landline phones, he added.

When contacted, Fire Services Director-General A. K. Khan said the matter was brought to the notice of BSNL authorities and efforts were on to solve the problem.

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