Dubai Municipality's Emergency Office received more than 16,800 calls last year involving services that enabled the municipality to serve the public better.
Khalid Abdul Rahim, Head of the Customer Service Section, said the emergency office receives calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week on problems, such as leakage of drainage and irrigation lines, environmental pollution, noise and disturbances, food poisoning and expired food, faulty traffic signals, street lights, traffic congestion, bachelor accommodation in residential areas, unauthorised building, beggars and unlicensed sellers, pest control, veterinary services and stray animals, waste services, agriculture services, complaints on restaurants, cafeterias and hairdresser saloons, comments on public markets, abattoirs, public libraries, public parks, public transport, inquiries about the traffic condition on the main roads, and on night duty pharmacies.
He said of the calls received last year, 4,700 or 28 per cent related to real emergency cases and were solved within two hours of being made.
Some 8,786 calls or 52 per cent were solved within 24 hours. "Though the cases were solved in record time, we didn't compromise on the quality of service provided," said Abdul Rahim.
The annual report of the section has pointed out that there were several calls related to the roads, prominent among them were about Sheikh Zayed Road, followed by Al Ittihad Road, Bani Yas Road, Al Khaleej Road and Emirates Road.
"Area-wise, there were 10,504 calls from Deira, 5,705 from Bur Dubai and 682 from the rural areas. Some 685 calls came from industrial areas," he said.
He added that some of the calls were related to other government departments and were referred to them.
"In this category, we received 1,140 calls on services provided by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Etisalat and Dubai Police. Also, some 2,164 calls were referred to private companies that undertake civic projects.
"In all, more than 80 per cent of the calls were related to the various organisational units in the municipality and referred to the relevant department for follow-up action," said Abdul Rahim.
Among the various civic departments, he said most of the calls were related to drainage and irrigation (3,039 calls), building maintenance (1,150 calls) and pest control (963 calls).
"We always attach much concern to the problems of the public and take initiative to solve them as fast as possible. If there is an increase in complaints concerning the services offered by a particular unit of the municipality, we notify the concerned officials and ensure that appropriate action is taken in this regard," he said.
About the nature of attending to calls and solving the problems, Abdul Rahim explained that in most cases, a call is enough. But in some cases, the caller is asked to come personally to the emergency office.
For instance, in the case of food poisoning, a food sample is required. Likewise, in some cases, officials are sent to follow-up on the spot.
Gulf News 2003
