New safety measures for call centre employees

NEW DELHI: Twenty-three-year-old Suman Singhal can now look forward to returning home safely after a late night shift in Delhi's busy call centre life. The Delhi police have decided to provide security to women working in the 500 call centres in the capital and its nearby satellite towns. The police organised a workshop for women and members of the management, to make them aware of the security measures.

“We have distributed a list of all the police control room (PCR) vans that are stationed in different areas of the city so that the women know how to reach us for help in case of emergency,” said Muktesh Chander, additional commissioner of the crime branch. There are over 400 PCR vans in the city.

“We have also asked the call center authorities to provide us with photographs, fingerprints and addresses of the cab drivers who are responsible for dropping staff members home. We suspect that criminal elements could target these jobs,” said Chander. “We have also asked these call centers to provide a security guard in each of the cabs at night,” he added.

Meanwhile, women working in call centres believe that the police can do more than this.