Mohammad Jamil Khan

On November 25, Sagor Mahmud, a porter by profession, was waiting at Bogura Railway Station for intercity Lalmoni Express, like all other days since early morning.

The train -- that was going to Lalmonirhat from Dhaka -- reached the station around 7:15am.

Some passengers were seen dropping a newborn boy and his mother off at the station and going away, the mother in unconscious state and bleeding.

Sagor remembered hearing about the national emergency helpline-999, and had the presence of mind to call the number to seek help.

The helpline official promptly connected Sagor to Bogura Fire Service station, and requested the fire service to take steps to rescue the newborn and his mother.

A team from the fire service immediately rescued the woman.

Even after the incident, the helpline official maintained communication with the Bogura Fire Service until the woman’s identity was verified. Hailing from Kaliganj of Lalmonirhat, both the newborn and his mother are now out of danger.

The national emergency service shared some of its remarkable success stories, marking its second anniversary.

In another incident, on September 12 midnight, a caller informed the emergency helpline that some muggers hijacked his truck from Malibagh area of the capital.

The caller also said a GPS tracking system was installed in his truck, and it was headed towards Mugda.

Helpline staff immediately connected the caller with duty officer of Sabujbagh Police Station.

On information, sub-inspector of the police station set up a barricade near the Mayakanan Buddhist temple and intercepted the truck. Police also arrested the muggers. The total operation was conducted within 19 minutes.

Since the service was launched on December 12, 2017, it has responded to 1.49 crore calls till December 7 this year.

Of the calls, 21 percent (30 lakh calls) were for seeking service, while 79 percent were blank calls or from people testing if the service really worked. Among the

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