A website of the city police, launched with much fanfare two years ago to remain connected with the people, particularly the youth, has not been updated since December last year.

The website, copconnect.in, was launched in July 2009 by the then Police Commissioner D Sivanandan, who had retired as DGP this year.

With a fresh citrus look and an interactive design, the website carries news, an events calendar and gives police alerts and traffic updates. It also has a section for citizens to write their complaints, grievances and opinions.

After its launch, Sivanandan had blogged a number times, elaborating how nearly 40,000-strong Mumbai Police were working round the clock to ensure safety of the citizens and how well it is prepared to prevent any terror attacks.

After Sivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal, who took charge as Police Commissioner, also blogged on the site noting his opinions and the good work done by his men.

"The last time Dayal blogged was in the first week of December. However, citizens continue to complain about various things they come across in the city or express their opinion on this site, but nobody was there to look into them since December," said a senior police official.

Arup Patnaik, not known as a tech-savvy officer, took charge as city police chief this February. The IPS officer has expressed no interest in continuing the website, where content is hardly updated.

Patnaik could not be contacted, where as Deputy Police Commissioner (Operations) Rajkumar Vhatkar declined to comment on the matter.

The website is also intended to deal with issues such as drug and alcohol abuse among the youth. It features questionnaires wherein the young users can identify problem areas or symptoms.

On May 9, a visitor, Govind Agarwal, wrote, "in Thakur Village almost all restaurants have encroached upon the footpaths. Can action be taken against these people?"

On May 12, one Roy Suman complained how autorickshaw drivers have become a nuisance in Malad.

An IPS officer stated, "Every Commissioner comes out with different initiatives to reach out to the people.

Sivanandan had done its best to be in touch with people. After his transfer, Dayal had continued to be in touch with citizens through this site, but did not show as much interest as Sivanandan had shown."

Recently, Patnaik started a "helpline" where citizens can send text messages to 7738133133 and 7738144144 about their grievances that will be directly viewed by him and acted upon immediately.

According to Patnaik, this will ensure the citizens' grievances are heard and addresed promptly.

"This SMS initiative by Patnaik will be effectively continued till he is on the Commissioner's post. After that no one knows what would happen to the initiative," observed the IPS officer.