E-Paper
Delhi Police helpline to now address cheating, harassment complaints
New Delhi: Taking cognisance of media reports and social media posts claiming that ambulance service providers are overcharging and cheating in the name of providing oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs for treating Covid-19, the Delhi Police on Saturday said the Covid helpline launched by them a fortnight ago will now address calls and complaints regarding all such illegal activities
New Delhi: Taking cognisance of media reports and social media posts claiming that ambulance service providers are overcharging and cheating in the name of providing oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs for treating Covid-19, the Delhi Police on Saturday said the Covid helpline launched by them a fortnight ago will now address calls and complaints regarding all such illegal activities.
The city police have already registered two cases of overcharging by ambulance drivers. In one such case registered at Sarita Vihar police station in southeast district, a person was arrested and his ambulance seized on Saturday for allegedly charging ₹8,500, nearly ten times more than the actual rate, for shifting a patient to Holy Family hospital from Apollo hospital -- a distance of 3.5kms.
Another case was registered at Sonia Vihar police station in northeast Delhi after a receipt of ₹10,000 charged by an ambulance service provider for a 4km journey was widely circulated on social media, said police.
The Delhi Police helpline 011-23469900, which has 10 lines to facilitate the movement of people falling in the exempted categories and resolve issues related to issuance of e-passes, receives more than 500 calls every day.
From Saturday onwards, it will also be responding to calls related to ambulances overcharging Covid patients or their relatives, harassment at cremation grounds and frauds offering help in getting beds in hospitals or Covid treatment, providing oxygen cylinders and life-saving injections such as remdesivir. People can also call on the helpline to report about other malpractices by unscrupulous elements.
“Victims and informants can also call on the helpline to report about fake medicines and injections that are being sold to needy people as authentic life-saving drugs. Besides, complaints can also be made on black marketing and hoarding of oxygen cylinders, essential medicines, and equipment used in Covid treatment,” said spokesperson for Delhi Police Chinmoy Biswal.
About the cheating case registered at at Sarita Vihar police station, deputy commissioner of police (southeast) R P Meena said on April 30, a man named Irshad filed a complaint and alleged that ambulance driver Pramod Kumar (30) was demanding ₹8,500 for shifting his relative, who contracted Covid-19, to Holy Family hospital from Apollo hospital.
“A decoy customer contacted the driver for shifting a patient within a range of 5km, for which Kumar demanded ₹9,500. After bargaining, he agreed at ₹8,500. He was immediately arrested for extortion and cheating and his ambulance was also seized,” said the DCP adding that Kumar confessed that he wanted to make quick money by cashing in on the existing Covid-19 crisis.
In the second case in which the police are yet to make any arrest, a case of extortion was registered after a man, identified as Satish, informed Sonia Vihar police on April 30 that he came across a tweet about a private ambulance service charging ₹10,000 for a 4km journey.
DCP (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said that to verify the allegation, Satish contacted the ambulance service and requested for an ambulance to shift a patient from Sonia Vihar to Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty hospital. “The person whom Satish contacted demanded ₹15,000. Thus, the allegations mentioned in the tweet turned out to be true. Satish approached police and provided a print of the tweet that he came across on Twitter,” said the DCP.
“We registered a case on Satish’s complaint. The person who demanded an exorbitant rate for providing an ambulance was identified as Devender from Bhalswa Dairy. In view of prevailing situation and in public interest, the ambulance has not been seized but its photograph has been taken as a record,” he said.
Police have also seized the bill book containing the original receipt, a copy of which was widely circulated on social media.
With regard to black-marketing of remdesivir and overcharging by ambulances, Delhi chief minister Kejriwal responded, “I just want to say that had we received the oxygen supply and were able to create beds, then an official system could have been prepared. One could also have received the medicines prescribed by the doctors there.”
“Now, anyone is laying their hands on whatever they are getting in front of them…The enforcement and police teams as well as teams of the Delhi Government are catching hold of all those engaged in black marketing. The only way to tackle this is by increasing the number of beds on a large scale, in particular, the oxygen beds,” said the chief minister.
He added, “Whoever is falling ill due to Covid-19 needs oxygen in the first place… As soon as the oxygen levels of a patient reach 88-89 and oxygen is immediately provided to them, their lives can be saved. But people are unable to get oxygen.”
