BHUBANESWAR: Away from hustle bustle of the coronavirus battle ground, a 30-line helpline centre is quietly absorbing the stress of Odias stranded outside seeking day-to-day basic support. Calls for food as well as other essentials have been pouring in from Odia workers who have been caught in the lockdown in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana as well as Rajasthan. Between March 26 and April 28, at least 1.6 lakh calls have been received by the centre and help has been sent to over 6 lakh Odias in various forms.
The dedicated control room set up by Odisha Government to coordinate with other states and extend support to Odias, works round-the-clock and receives about 5,000 from various states every day. For each call, a ticket is generated which is forwarded to an officer entrusted with coordination for a specific state.
Much before migrant workers wanted to return, they went through various hardships as essential services were not available.
“Many of the calls were related to provision of food to different groups. We would immediately alert the officer in-charge of individual states and they would start coordinating with the respective administration on the ground. This has helped alleviate their anxiety to a great extent,” said sources. When the Government set up the helpline centre, it assigned 10 states to nine IAS officers while rest 19 states were under supervision of IG Amitabh Thakur, who also is in charge of the helpline centre. There are two other IPS officers deployed at the centre for monitoring.
At least 120 assistant section officers work in four shifts during which they receive the calls and patch it to the officers monitoring the States. Basing on the locations and kind of help required, local administration is contacted so that the stranded Odias can be extended help. Once the individual grievances are addressed, the tickets are tagged as processed and the cycle continues. In the last few days, the call centre has been flooded with queries by stranded Odias on how they could go home. They have been advised to register and wait for arrangements being made by the State Government.