Delhi's UP Bhawan Control Room gets over 2,000 calls every day

Close to 2,000-2,500 calls from persons belonging to Uttar Pradesh, majority of whom are stranded in other parts of the country, wanting to return home are received at Uttar Pradesh Bhawan control room here, said an official on Saturday.

"Every day we get about 2000-2500 calls from all over the country by the people of Uttar Pradesh. Among these, 90 per cent calls are of those who want to return to their homes," said Dinesh Karush, Management Officer, Control Room UP Bhawan, while speaking to .

He said that eight telephone lines are functional round the clock to help the needy people. "We have a team of around 50 people, who work in a shift of six hours," he said.

When asked about the complaint that helpline numbers remain busy all the time, Karush said: "We are getting calls from everywhere. Many times people get so emotional while talking that we can't disconnect. We have to convince them, talk to them and make them feel light."

"We are getting calls from all over the country -- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and many more. We try hard to connect them to the nodal officers to solve their issues," added Karush.

"We are trying our best to deliver food to all the needy people. Earlier we used to get calls for foods and other essential items, but now more than 98 per cent calls from the stranded people are about their willingness to return to their native places or home towns," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )