CRPF's Kashmir helpline got over 34,000 distress calls after abrogation of Article 370, say officials

New Delhi: Over 34,000 distress calls, a majority of them by people concerned about the well-being of family members living in Kashmir, were received by a Srinagar-based helpline of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) following revocation of provisions of Article 370 by the Centre, officials said on Tuesday.

A total of 34,274 calls were received on the ‘Madadgaar’ helpline number—14411—and on a few other mobile numbers, after 5 August, they said.

“A majority of the calls were of people enquiring about the well-being of their family and relatives living in Kashmir and about the situation in general”, a senior official said.

“As many as 1,227 calls involved matters of exigency, and in these cases CRPF personnel visited houses of people in Kashmir to help establish contact between the caller and the family”, he said.

The official said the CRPF personnel, dealing with the helpline, also visited the locals at their homes for a variety of other reasons such as delivering air tickets, informing people about change in date of interview or exam of students studying outside Jammu and Kashmir and informing locals about any other emergency based on a caller’s request.

As many as 123 patients, suffering from kidney-related ailments, cancer, diabetes and other diseases, were provided medicines at their home by the helpline personnel, he said. The helpline worked through a few mobile numbers also during this period as the communication clampdown temporarily blocked the standard landline number—14411.

The Centre has abrogated the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir given under Article 370 and declared its bifurcation into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. These two Union Territories will come into existence from 31 October.

‘Madadgaar’ was launched by the CRPF in June 2017 to help Kashmir Valley residents staying anywhere in the country. It operates from a CRPF camp in Srinagar. The helpline operates on Twitter as @CRPFmadadgaar.

The CRPF is the lead counter-terrorism, and law and order keeping central force in the Kashmir Valley with over 65 battalions (about 1,000 personnel each) permanently based there.