From neighbours’ nuisance to civic issues and lovers wanting to marry, the Shiv Sena’s helpline is flooded with all kinds of calls.
And the party is going out of its way to solve these issues.
The Sena has become the state’s first political party to have a 24x7 call centre trying to solve issues. “It is not an election stunt. The centre was opened in March and we have been consistent in taking down calls, solving problems and keeping a log in a tech-savvy manner,” said Shailesh Patil, an electrical engineer and in charge of the Sena’s IT and media division.
Patil has designed software for the call centre to log in complaints, forward them to local leaders on their cellphones through SMS format and give a feedback to the caller. “We ensure a response to any problem plaguing anyone in the state, whether they speak Marathi or not,” he added.
The helpline also takes down suggestions from citizens while preparing the party’s manifesto for the Assembly elections. The call centre, functional at Sena Bhavan, has 22 youth taking calls and forwarding queries.
“A senior citizen complained that his neighbours always had loud TV volume and he was not able to sleep. We counselled the neighbours and gave the caller a feedback,” Patil added. “There was another call from a family asking for help to prevent their daughter from eloping.”
{{/usCountry}}“A senior citizen complained that his neighbours always had loud TV volume and he was not able to sleep. We counselled the neighbours and gave the caller a feedback,” Patil added. “There was another call from a family asking for help to prevent their daughter from eloping.”
{{/usCountry}}“Everything does not translate into votes, but it does get us goodwill,” a senior Sena leader said, requesting anonymity.