05 September,2026 08:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Sarthak Mehta
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in Fort. File pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Mumbai civic emergency lifeline, 1916, the 24/7 helpline of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for reporting issues and emergencies, faced multiple disruptions during this monsoon, with the latest outage, on Tuesday, September 1, lasting over six hours. The downtime, attributed by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) officials to technical issues with its telephone exchange, briefly affected citizens trying to reach the BMC, even as the civic body's disaster management operations continued through alternative helplines and communication networks.
Civic officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday that two major disruptions were observed this monsoon, "a number that is much less compared to the past. Still, discussions are on to switch to an operator with less downtime, similar to how our internal hotline was migrated to a private operator in April this year," said an official.
"The September 1 disruption stemmed from a technical issue at our telephone exchange," said an MTNL official.
"These disruptions cause some inconvenience to the callers/citizens who aren't aware of alternative helpline numbers; coordination of disaster management - Internal communication, cross-agency communication, inward calls - functions the same," stated a civic official.
Direct
1916
18002101916
22694725
22694727
Indirect
100
101
108
1077
Individual ward-level disaster cell phone numbers
July 1: 14 hours (midnight to 7 am; 11 am to 6 pm)
July 6: Five minutes
September 1: Six hours (1.45 am to 8 am).
"July 1 was an optical fibre issue," stated an MTNL official.
500 to 700
No. of calls helpline receives in eight-hour shift
Avinash Dhakne, additional municipal commissioner in charge of BMC's Disaster Management Department
â1916 services have been restored since, with no current disruptions. Alternate communication channels are always available in such situations; these channels were recently upgraded. The process for upgrading the 1916 helpline is also ongoing to prevent such disruptions in future'
As per civic officials, 1916 is a 24/7 centralised helpline number for the public by the BMC. The helpline primarily serves citizens in reporting various civic issues and emergency calls to the civic body. The disaster management department of the BMC receives these incoming calls and then further coordinates them with respective civic departments and other government agencies, including hospitals, police, and fire brigade. "We usually receive 500 to 700 calls in a single eight-hour shift; during peak monsoon, the figure surges to around 1000," stated a civic official on Thursday.
Civic officials say that the cell is functional around the clock and 1916 disruption alone does not affect its functioning. As per officials, the DM cell has a list of ways for smooth internal cross-agency communication for emergency coordination - 1916 (operator: MTNL), hotline (private operator), advanced digital remote radio system, and ham radio.
