Lodging a complaint about ragging will be a phone call away from June 15. A national call centre will be set up by the government to enable victims of the ragging from across the country to dial a toll free number to register complaints.

The helpline will have a software which will pass on the message to the head of the educational institutions within 15 minutes so as to help the administration to swing into action for rescue of the victim students. "The Education Consultancy India Ltd (ECIL) has been entrusted with the job of setting up of the national call centre.

By June 15, it will be operational," UGC Chairman Prof Sukhadeo Thorat told reporters here today. He said the helpline will operate round the clock and UGC will monitor its functioning.

The UGC will also inform the institutions about the toll free number which can be passed on to the students for use. The UGC has come up with a stringent regulation to check ragging.

The regulations say students can be fined up to Rs 2.5 lakh if found guilty of ragging. The offence will be treated as a severe criminal act at par with rape.

The UGC regulations provide for rustication of a student for a period from one to four semesters.