New Delhi : Delhi woke up to a slew ads announcing that the Chief Minister’s Helpline for women in distress is now functional.

It isn’t.

The much-promoted ‘181’ toll-free helpline has run into what sources describe as technical glitches.  It’s now expected to launch at 6 pm.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit looked grim as she left the office where the helpline number will be operated out of at the Central Secretariat.  She did not speak to reporters.

The death of a student who was gang-raped on a moving bus in Delhi engulfed India in anger, sorrow, and shame.  After a 13-day fight for her life, she died in a hospital in Singapore on Saturday.  Thousands of protestors have been lining the streets in Delhi and other cities vowed that her death will not be in vain.  They have promised to keep the pressure on the government by campaigning extensively for better policing, and stricter and more effective anti-rape laws.

The helpline was announced a few days ago as the government faced the wrath of a country that unsubscribed forcefully from accepting that its women will be groped in public places,  harassed on buses, and sexually assaulted while an apathetic police force and administration fail to course-correct.

The delayed launch of the helpline is totemic of the turgid and lympathic approach of the government in making even the smallest changes.  

The number ‘181’, when it is operational, can be dialled from landline and mobile phones. The helpline will operate from the Chief Minister’s office and will be connected with all the 185 police stations across the city.

Ms Dikshit had requested Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to allot a three-digit helpline number for helping women. The Ministry had earlier allotted ‘167’ as the helpline but following a request for a number that would be easier to recollect, it was changed to ‘181’.

This is the first three-digit number to have been allotted by the Telecom Ministry in two years.