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SPEAK UP: Delhi police's noble 24x7 online service apps find few takers

Senior citizens find it difficult to handle such app due to less technical expertise

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File photo of L-G Anil Baijal and Delhi Police officers launching the updated Himmat app
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Delhi police has launched many online citizen services and few applications to keep up with the pace of internet generation and also to increase the reach of people to its many citizen services on its online portal such as lodging complaints of motor vehicle theft , applying for police clearance certificate, viewing status of fir, character verification report ,lodging report about missing persons and lot more. Also, applications like Himmat for Women safety, senior citizens app to help old people and property theft app to report stolen property have been launched.

These services are available 24x7 on online portal of Delhi police but still, there are very few takers for these services. These services were started to bring assistance to the doorsteps of citizens but not many know about them. From the date of its launch in 2014, only eight lakh people have applied for police clearance certificate. The Himmat app which was launched as women safety app in beginning in 2015 was relaunched in 2018 in as utility app for women because of the few takers of the app in the past. The senior citizen app has not been a success till now even after two years of its launch, the reason being technical difficulties for senior citizens while using the app as they are not very tech savvy.

"I have heard about the Himmat app and tried to download it as I travel alone a lot of time especially at night. I found it a little difficult to use in comparison to other safety apps and I had to uninstall the app " said Jyoti Babbar, 32. Though the numbers of downloads have increased after the relaunch of the app still there is lack of awareness about the app in the targeted population i.e the young college going and working women.

Same goes for senior citizens app, old people mostly are not so smartphone friendly and the promotion for the app has been very prompt by the Delhi police. "I didn't know such app existed till now. But now that I know it, I think it is very useful for old people. If help can reach us on time with just click of a button, nothing is better than that ." said Laxmi Ahuja, 68 on being asked about the app. The number of people downloading the app has been less than four thousand per year. Though these services are very beneficial for people, they will be useful only when people know about the service.

VOICES

The services are very helpful in time of need, but the sites keep on crashing at times. The site helped me to register the complaint about my stolen phone instantly without going to the police station and saved me from the hassle.
Aniket, 20

Senior citizens app is a very good initiative. Though I got to know about it today, I will definitely use it and encouraged people to download it too. As a senior citizen, it feels good to know that the police is willing to reach us in time of need by just using the app.
Satish Goyal, 62

The Himmat app is very good, but why only for android and IOS? The feature should be extended to Windows users as well. Other than this, the app is a positive step to ensure women safety.
— Rahi Sethi,  19

The sites keep crashing every time you try to use them. Also, the status of FIR's is not updated. There are many technical glitches that need to be worked out for these services to be useful for peoples.
Deep Seth, 20

The initiative taken through both Himmat and senior citizens app is very good, but most of the people don't know about it. I myself don't use the Himmat app as it is very tricky to use.
Dharna Seth, 47

I recently found out about the app, which is undoubtedly an excellent initiative considering the reach and prowess of technology. However, the need of the hour is to make the target consumers, that is young girls aware of the existence of such an application. 
Sagarika Mathur, 21

EXPERT SPEAK

The utility of these apps is very good, but the outreach is not as wide as it should be. The reason for this is the technical difficulties that people face while using these apps. These apps need to be made more user-friendly. Once the technical difficulties are sorted out these apps can help to contribute to better administration and a safer environment for everyone.
Pawan Duggal, Cyber expert

We are interacting with the students in colleges and schools and asking especially the girl students to download the Himmat application. Seminars to teach the senior citizens on how to use the application on their smartphones are also being conducted, as most of them cannot avail the services due to lack of technical expertise.
Madhur Verma, DCP, PRO

PANEL NUMBERS:

74,724
Registered Himmat app users till date

9,674
Registered senior citizen app users till date

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