A new, unique call center for the Lok Sabha MPs and their concerns

New Delhi : While it has become a trend to have an on-call assistance for almost all services, a new initiative of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has extended it to the Member of Parliaments.

The 24/7 call centre, named Information and Communication Centre, has been designed to assist MPs on all aspects - from administrative (finding out the status of pending travel bills) to functional (providing background research on key issues).

The pilot run of the call center was conducted last month from a dedicated room no 13 in the Parliament House annex. Deployment of at least three officials has been passed for the same, said an official.

Apart from a chief coordinator and a few coordinators, the call centre can also be contacted via WhatsApp, which is being taken care off by a nodal officer.

According to functionaries associated with the call centre, there has been a steady stream of enquiries. During the last two weeks of the Winter Session, for instance, they said they received queries on travel bills, appointments for “the special health check-up camp that was organised by Speaker Om Birla” and about background research papers on different subjects.

The call centre came up after Speaker Om Birla called for better facilities for MPs, including research assistants.

"For the above-said purpose, additional Secretaries and joint secretaries are requested to arrange to furnish the details of the queries generally received or information sought by MPs during the course of functioning of the branches/ sections under their charge," the letter from Yaduvanshi further said.

It is expected that the call center will be completely functional by the end of this year and then it will be extended for the Rajya Sabha MPs as well.