UP Police's Twitter handle keeping NRIs digitally connected with their state

Things turned problematic for Kaveri Chaturvedi, a working mother who lives in Singapore, when the tenant of her flat back home in Sector 42 in Noida, fled with her house keys without paying the rent. Kaveri tried to get in touch with her broker in Noida who too did not respond to her messages and calls. Then Kaveri turned to the Uttar Pradesh Police for help. She posted a message on Twitter on UPPolNRI, a Twitter handle created by the UP Police to help non-resident Indians from the state.Kaveri spelt out her problem through her tweet and sought help from the UP Police, who within 24 hours, got the house vacated and took possession of it on Kaveri's behalf.

'Without the complainant having to be physically present, a case is followed up and solved'
Ever since the handle was created, problems being faced several NRIs have been solved by the UP Police. Nikhil Gupta, who works in Canada, sought help from the local police through the same Twitter handle. His 85-year-old father's cycle had been stolen from a government office in Orai. Hailing from Jalaun, Nikhil's father was not in a condition to go and complain to the local police. So Nikhil posted his plea on the Twitter handle and within 72 hours, in a joint operation by the Jalaun and Orai Police, his father’s cycle was located and returned to him.

Kanchan Kiran Tomar, a homemaker and mother of two, resides in Melbourne and is a victim of domestic abuse. Her brother Krishna Pratap Tomar tweeted a copy of a letter written by Kanchan addressed to the DGP UP, to help her escape from the abusive marriage. "On the next day of tweeting my sister's complaint, I got a call from IG Meerut Range and ADG Meerut Range asking me for details. They promised to help my sister and suggested that I refer the case to a civil court in India," says Krishna, a social worker in Ghaziabad district who spoke to us from Melbourne, where he is these days with his sister Kanchan.
Om Prakash Singh, Director General of Police (DGP), UP, tells us, "We get the complaint on Twitter and we passed it on to the concerned police station. The case is being followed up by the local police who will update us on the progress till it is resolved. So without a formal complaint or FIR, a case is solved without the person having to be physically present for it."

'Planning to create country-specific Twitter handles soon'
Seeing the positive response, the UP Police now plans to create country-specific Twitter handles – like one each for Mauritius, Dubai, USA, Canada and UK, where a lot of people from the state reside. "We also intend to appoint local coordinators and volunteers in these countries to act as a mediator between us and the NRIs from UP for follow up and updates on law-and-order complaints in their respective hometowns in UP," says Singh.
Srivastav adds, "These coordinators will function as a mediator between us and the UP NRIs. So instead of them individually sending us messages, they can route their problem through these coordinators who will be in touch with us."

Supriya Broadbent, who works as tax consultant in London, has been made the coordinator for the London chapter of the UP Police Twitter handle. We got in touch with Supriya, who told us, "I have been observing the UP Police Twitter Seva for over a year and was impressed by the promptness of the service. I approached them on my visit to India this year to try and extend this service to other fellow NRIs from UP. We met with the DGP UP OP Singh and the PRO Rahul Srivastav who came up with the Twitter Seva idea. They were very receptive and they formulated the idea of ‘international coordinators' to extend the service beyond India’s borders. I can see on Twitter that people respond with their opinions and overall, it is positive, which is generally unusual for a police force. People are generally sceptical and I am viewing it from an international stage in London. I am therefore happy to be attached to such a positive initiative in my home state of UP. And I am glad to say that the service has been well received by NRIs in the UK."