UPDATE:Women Helpline Number 1091 is functional now.
Vanitha Sahayavani Helpline, a prestigious project started by BSNL and Karnataka Govt. does not function and it had been effortlessly in the same condition for the past one year. The helpline number is 1091, but calling it simply does not cut the glass. We are proudly celebrating Women’s day and we are distributing garlands, shawls and flower bouquets to signify the importance of Women in current economic growth and financial strata. But, what about the household women who are facing humiliation and being harassed by in-laws and husbands? Are they to suffer life long? Well, that’s what government thought in 1999 and initiated Vanitha Sahayavani Helpline which can be called at 1091. Do you know the state of it in 2011?
Helpline did not get any help from BSNL and as well as Govt. So, it’d dead for the past one year. Earlier, 1091 used to get 
15-20 calls everyday. The women in distress were offered free counseling and legal help. But, now that the phone line is dead, we can’t expect how many women are killing themselves because no one wishes to hear their pleas and no one cared to offer any counseling and advice.
The call usually lasts for just one minute in which some kind of help should be offered to the callers. But, how can a meager minute provide enough assurance to the caller who might be on the verge of taking her own life? While we spend more than 3 minutes just to decide which kind of Pizza to eat, the women in distress are getting just a minute of counseling. So, the office staff provided separate numbers to women who were seeking out professional advice.
BSNL is so busy in laying the phone lines in Shivajinagar area that it does not even give a damn to check whether the severed lines are working and are presently in order or not.
A few details about:
Vanitha Sahayavani Office,
2nd floor, Shivajinagar bus stand,
Bangalore.
Alternate numbers to contact are: (080)2294 3225 and (080)2286 4023
Timings: 10 AM to 6 PM(After these timings, ailing women are not cared for. How about making this service 24×7?, anyone listening?)
Are you interested to learn what BSNL Customer Service Centre DGM said about all this, “ Well, there could be some technical glitches. We will sort it out”. How ridiculous, eh? Some lives are meant to be lost because of these ‘minor’ technical glitches. But, why should R Krishnamoorthy, DGM care about those lives??? It had only been a year or more to clear these minor glitches.
What a shame!!!
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