If you are in danger, alert your neighbours and passers by with the press of a switch. That would cause a bell to ring outside your house.
The Bidhannagar Commissionerate has introduced a simple intervention for senior citizens in its jurisdiction who are staying alone.
"It is a simple calling bell. But the ringer is installed outside, where one would expect the switch of a building's calling bell to be, while the switch will be inside where the resident thinks it will be the most accessible to him or her," said an officer of the Bidhannagar North police station, which has installed the maximum number of such bells — 29 — among all the thanas in the commissionerate area.
“We have our helpline and our control room. But from experience, we have seen that in case of emergency, the first thing that betrays you is the mobile phone. The quickest response in times of need comes from the neighbourhood. What we are installing is a bedside alarm that would alert the neighbourhood that the citizen is in need of help. They can then call us and we can send our team to take necessary action. It can come to use even if the person senses some criminal activity in his or her surroundings," police commissioner Gaurav Sharma explained to The Telegraph Salt Lake.
The service is for members of Saanjhbaati, the commissionerate's project for elderly people living alone.
Another step the police is taking is arrange for discounts. "Elderly people need help on three counts - hospitals, diagnostic centres and pharmacies. We appealed to all them seeking discounts for our Saanjhbati members. We are very happy that a lot of them came forward with support according to their capability. We are printing the pamphlets now for distribution. We are distributing identity cards, on production of which the discounts may be availed,” he added.
According to the commissioner, Saanjhbaati has more than 2,500 members, of whom close to 100 stay alone and are eligible for the installation of the calling bell.
Swapna Das of FE Block is one such member in whose house a bell has recently been installed. “This has been a very reassuring step for me. At night, if something happens, even if I cannot find the cellphone I can ring the bell by pressing this bed switch,” said the retired teacher of Kendriya Vidyalaya.
“I was the first member in whose house this was installed in our area and they even recorded my statement. It was played on screen at a police programme where we were all invited in end-December at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town,” she recalled. Das became a member of Saanjhbaati six years ago, about a year after her husband expired.
The project is run by the police with assistance from the NGO Offer. “Nine of our volunteers take turns to man the Saanjhbaati office in the Bidhannagar North police station round the clock. We attend to calls on the helpline,” said Kallol Ghosh of the NGO.
Even calls from the Bidhannagar area made to the helpline 100 are routed to the Saanjhbaati number in relevant cases. Help is offered for hospitalisation, buying of medicines, going to the bank or even alerting the police in law and order situations, he added.
“We have just finished installing the bells. We will gradually start informing the neighbours and the block residents' committees about the existence and purpose of the bells,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar North police station.
Anuradha Sen, a director of HelpAge India, welcomed the initiative as an “out-of-the-box idea”. “There are private service providers which offer alarm watches but not everyone can afford to pay for such care. While in their case, it is the service provider which is supposed to respond, in this case the onus is on the community to react. Whether it succeeds will depend on whether people hearing the bell react to it like hit-and-run drivers, shrugging off the responsibility and carrying on with their schedule, or do their bit as responsible neighbours. Culturally we have become like that. People have to understand that they are not expected to break into the house to check on the person inside - that is untenable physically or legally - but they need to inform the police. The local-level logistics has to work out for this project to succeed,” said the resident of CL Block.
“The project has just been rolled out. Let us wait for three months. After that, we will do a survey on the calling bell usage - how many times it was rung by how many people, under what kind of circumstances and whether they received any help,” Ghosh said.
Saanjhbaati helpline 9748898933 (24 hours)
Would the calling bell system help senior citizens in emergencies? Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abp.in