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Buzzing with activity: Calls from across UP flood Kalyan Sathi Helpline
The command centre, called the ‘Samaj Kalyan Samadhan Kendra’ inaugurated on Tuesday, February 27, received 1902 calls on Wednesday.
The recently launched Kalyan Sathi Helpline -14568 - being run by the social welfare department has been buzzing since its launch, receiving calls from across the state.
The command centre, called the ‘Samaj Kalyan Samadhan Kendra’ inaugurated on Tuesday, February 27, received 1902 calls on Wednesday.
The centre has 26 operators and its supervisor Naman Singh said since the start of the pilot project on November 6, 2023, till the end of February 2024, the helpline had received 55705 calls from across UP. In Lucknow, 122 cases have been received so far of which 92 have been resolved while 30 are pending, according to the data logged with the command centre.
This helpline caters to all queries and complaints regarding the schemes run under the Social Welfare Department, starting from scholarship to mass marriage and old-age pension schemes. Operators at the command centre will be able to provide updates on the status of any application, or follow up on any individual case that may be stalled or pending.
Singh demonstrated the handling of each call by operators and the due process followed for all the registered cases thereafter. He explained that a call is either received for requesting information on a particular scheme or status of application or it could be for registration of a complaint regarding beneficiaries not receiving their due.
In case of latter, the district social welfare officer is informed. If not resolved in 24 hours, the case is escalated to the divisional level for five days and escalated further to the scheme officer and finally the director, should officers at every level fail to resolve the issue. Either way, in a worst-case scenario, any beneficiary registering a complaint may have to wait less than a month for their complaints to be solved.
“After the formal launch the number of calls coming in have skyrocketed,” Singh said. “We have been in operation since the start of our pilot project in November of last year,” he said and shared that the operators had to go through a week-long training on all the schemes and a tutorial on how to operate the Kalyan Sathi portal after selection.
Social welfare minister Asim Arun and CM’s chief advisor Awanish Awasthi were present along with chief guest, former minister Ramapati Shastri on the occasion. The Samaj Kalyan Vibhag is promoting the tagline ‘Sabka samman, turant samadhaan’ with this app. In his address, Awasthi called this new addition to SWD operations as ‘technology with a human touch’. He said: “With this app and helpline, no beneficiary will be missed.”
