Ggm Covid helpline: Most queries about food supply and from migrant workers

Gurugram: The COVID-19 dedicated helpline number in Gurugram has now received around 1.7 lakh calls in the last three months, with a majority of them being from migrant workers asking for help in the absence of salaries and from people wanting to know how they can get food supply and other essential items in times of the Coronavirus lockdown.

There were also a large number of queries related to testing facilities, complaints of black marketing, information on containment zones and grievances on the rent-related issues. Providing an official account of the 90,000 genuine queries that were subsequently worked on by the officials of the Gurugram District Administration; 52,399 questions were on essential requirements and supply of food items.

At 58.4 percent, queries related to food are the largest share of the calls that have been received in the Gurugram District helpline number (1950). Officials say there are still a large number of complaints related to the supply and requirement of food items. Second on the list of the number of calls, are queries from migrant workers. At 33.5 percent, there were 30,067 calls that were received by the operators by anxious migrant workers asking how they can reach their hometowns safely.

Officials said that 523 calls were also made to complain of non-payment of salaries to migrant workers. 4,217 calls were received from residents for the request of movement passes and 29 queries requesting authorities for easing restrictions for patients who need to step out for medical emergencies. Surprisingly, not many calls were related to the deadly infection per se. According to officials, there have been less than 100 queries on the issues specific to COVID-19.