New Delhi:
In order to assist railway passengers, other citizens and help resolve issues in freight operations, Indian Railways has upscaled the helpline facilities after the imposition of a countrywide lockdown.
Since the facilities have been put in place, Railway personnel have responded to over 2,05,000 queries in first two weeks of lockdown on designated communication platforms, 90 per cent (over 1,85,000) of which were handled through direct human interaction over the phone.
Railway control office has been doing 24x7 monitoring of four communication and feedback platforms- Helplines-139, 138, social media (especially Twitter) and email (railmadad@rb.railnet.gov.in). This is to ensure seamless flow of information and suggestions between Railway Administration and general public during the lockdown.
The helpline operation is being manned round-the-clock by Director-level officers. These officers monitor citizen feedback and their suggestions received on social media and email, and ensure that appropriate action is taken to alleviate any difficulties faced by Railway customers, especially in goods transportation, during the period of lockdown.
Meanwhile, field officers at the level of ADRMs monitor at their divisional level as a part of this team.
RailMadad Helpline-139 answered over 1,40,000 queries on one-on-one basis in first two weeks of the lockdown, in addition to queries answered by its IVRS facility.
While the queries are mostly for commencement of train services and the relaxed refund rules (which itself was done on the basis of the feedback from public), the social media is flush with appreciation of Railways' efforts in these trying times.
Some of the efforts include running of freight trains carrying essential items, waiving penalties for late release of wagons, converting coaches into hospital wards, distribution and of food packets, preparing PPEs, sanitizers and other equipment to Fight Against COVID-19 etc.
Calls received on Helpline 138 are geo-fenced i.e calls land on the nearest Railway Divisional Control Office (manned round-the-clock by Railway personnel well-versed in local language and familiar with local issues) as per the location of the caller.
This ensures that callers receive information and guidance in the language that they are comfortable speaking. This new feature overcomes the language barrier, and makes flow of information to Railway customers and others faster as the pertinent information is readily available with the Division.
World
Coronavirus has spread to 185 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 17,09,085 and 1,03,543 have died; 12,23,017 are active cases and 3,82,525 have recovered as on April 11, 2020 at 5:21 pm.
India
In India, there are 7,529 confirmed cases including 242 deaths. The number of active cases is 6,634 and 653 have recovered as on April 11, 2020 at 5:00 pm.
State & District Details State Cases Active Recovered Deaths Maharashtra
1574
1276
188
110
Tamil Nadu
911
859
44
8
Delhi
903
864
25
14
Rajasthan
553
529
21
3
Telangana
504
452
43
9
Madhya Pradesh
443
410
0
33
Uttar Pradesh
433
397
32
4
Andhra Pradesh
381
364
11
6
Kerala
364
239
123
2
Gujarat
308
258
31
19
Karnataka
214
171
37
6
Jammu And Kashmir
207
197
6
4
Haryana
177
145
29
3
Punjab
132
116
5
11
West Bengal
126
105
16
5
Bihar
60
59
0
1
Odisha
48
45
2
1
Uttarakhand
35
30
5
0
Assam
29
28
0
1
Himachal Pradesh
28
21
6
1
Chhattisgarh
18
9
9
0
Chandigarh
18
11
7
0
Jharkhand
17
16
0
1
Ladakh
15
5
10
0
Andaman And Nicobar Islands
11
11
0
0
Goa
7
6
1
0
Puducherry
7
6
1
0
Manipur
2
1
1
0
Tripura
2
2
0
0
Mizoram
1
1
0
0
Arunachal Pradesh
1
1
0
0
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
