Wrong number calls haunt elderly couple

DES Law College website lists a landline number as their contact number that actually belongs to a senior citizen; college authorities clueless about goof-up, but promise to take quick action

Wrong number calls haunt elderly couple

DES Law College website lists a landline number as their contact number that actually belongs to a senior citizen; college authorities clueless about goof-up, but promise to take quick actionu00a0
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For the past year, 76-year-old Padmakar Darp and his 71-year-old wife Lalita Darp patiently answer about 20 calls a day about DES Law College on his landline. No, they do not work for them, nor are they doing any kind of voluntary work. They end up doing this work because of the carelessness of the college authorities, as they have not bothered to change their contact details online. All the calls meant for DES college come on Darp's personal landline number. Ironically, Darp was a student of the same college about 50 years ago.

His personal landline number is mentioned on the website along with the college address. Darp receives calls from various parts of the country enquiring about the admission procedures and other details about the college.
The couple faces a horrible time, especially during admission season, when they receive calls even at 11 pm.
"Each time I get a call, I politely tell them that this is not the college number but a private number. I also request them to inform the college authorities and have the mistake rectified if they are able to find the correct number of the institution. I have no clue why my number is mentioned on the website," said Darp.

Darp mentions that his wife keeps down the phone by just saying that it is a wrong number. But since he doesn't find it right, he ends up explaining the problem to each and every caller.

"Sometimes, I get more than 20 calls a day and the calls double up during the admission season. There are calls from Chennai and other cities as well," he said.

When MiD DAY contacted the college authorities they were clueless about the goof-up. According to the principal, Dr Rohini Honap, they had changed their previous numbers a year ago and had sent a notice to the service provider also. "There are two numbers. One was used by the college authorities and the other by the management. I think it could be the other number. The website has not been activated for the past two years.
It could be possible that the numbers have not been changed by the company managing the website. We will take quick action and contact the couple personally."