24X7 helpline available for stranded JK residents: Ms. Ohri
Suhail Khan
SRINAGAR, April 10:Following the outbreak of Coronavirus disease,the office of the resident commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi,has received over 6000 distress calls in last 13 days from residents of J&K, mostly students, stranded across different states, due to the unprecedented lockdown in the country.
Though, a huge number of complaints have been received by Kashmir Despatch that the office of resident commissioner J&K is not responding to the distress calls and trouble messages, a senior officer in the office of resident commissioner New Delhi rebutted these allegations.
“Delay in accepting calls can be true but there is a dedicated staff of around 10 people who are working in a helpline set up by us to address the distress calls and emails of J&K residents who are stuck in different parts of the country,” the officer working in the office of Resident Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir told Kashmir Despatch.
The officer told Kashmir Despatch that the resident commissioner’s office is working in coordination with J&K nodal officers in different states and whatever possible, help is being provided to the stranded residents of J&K without any delay.
“Right now we are getting over 100 calls and messages a day. Our helpline officials are working round the clock and we have three landline numbers. They are manned by 6 officials and whatever is the request, we put it down in the register and action taken is also registered and we send the details to the concerned district magistrates where the callers are stranded,” said Ms. Rimpy Ohri, additional secretary, who is supervising the resident commissioner JK office’s helpline for stranded people of Jammu and Kashmir.
She told Kashmir Despatch that all the calls and messages they have received are for evacuation. “If we deny the passes for their evacuation because of the lockdown and or for any other reasons, they then demand food and ration. We immediately arrange their food and other essentials through respective governments where they are stranded,” she added.
Ms. Ohri said that in very rare cases, the stranded people are allowed to move towards J&K. “Like if there are any serious patients and their attendants we consider those cases. Today we also allowed one patient to go to Poonch from Delhi by arranging an ambulance.”
Apart from this she said, that the government helpline is getting lot of calls from Jammu and Kashmir divisions asking for life saving medicines. “Accordingly we arrange medicines and send them to such callers through air cargo which operates on every alternate day. And we coordinate and send them the medicines. We are also handling the air cargo sending all sort of medicines, masks and other equipments for management of COVID in J&K,” Ms. Ohri, told Kashmir Despatch.
Asked that the office of resident commissioner J&K Delhi has not responded to the email messages and calls of people including students who are stranded in Mumbai, Jaisalmer and Punjab, Ohri said: “Even if some messages are not answered on real time basis and have been left out for some reasons, those messages are shared in our common group comprising all of our nodal officers stationed in different states catering to the whole country. The concerned nodal officer responds to such messages by calling those stranded people on their phone numbers mentioned in the message and try to resolve their grievances,” she added.
When asked why the resident commissioner’s office is not facilitating the evacuation of the stranded residents of J&K, she said that they are denying evacuation because the stranded people will have to face immense difficulties at various borders till they reach their home state.
“See all the states have established quarantine centres on their respective borders. So while coming from Mumbai with the help of passes, an individual has still to undergo mandatory quarantine so they will have to go back. In another two three days, we will have a clearer picture about what the government wants on lockdown. Sofar we are denying the requests for evacuation keeping in view the difficulties they will face while traveling,” she told Kashmir Despatch.
On a question about the students who were evacuated from Iran and are stuck in a quarantine facility at Jaisalmer Rajasthan, Ms. Ohri said: “We are in touch with Rajasthan government. Yes, I am getting a lot of calls and the divisional commissioner office Kashmir has already sent us a letter for their evacuation from Rajasthan. Let us see what the Rajasthan government says in this regard and if a decision is taken, we will facilitate the same.”
Ms. Ohri appealed all the stranded residents of Jammu and Kashmir to contact the helpline numbers 011-24611210, 011-24611108, 011-24615475 of email it on [email protected].
