Telangana High Court irked over non-functioning of Coronavirus helpline

Hyderabad: Expressing displeasure over the non functioning of Covid-19 helpline number 104, the High Court Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan on Monday questioned the State government when the helpline was not helping the people, then what was the use of having it?

The persons who are handling the helpline number should be in a position to help the people and answer their query, the Chief Justice said.

The High Court Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy heard two public interest litigations complaining about the ineffective and unproductive handling of Covid-19 helpline number 104. The litigant also alleged that the officials are not allowing the people to undergo Covid-19 tests even though they have symptoms of coronavirus symptoms.

Chief Justice Chauhan directed the Advocate General BS Prasad to convey the complaint to the State government to appoint suitable persons as executives in the Covid-19 helpline number 104, in order to assist the callers to guide them in the right direction.

Moreover, to find out, if there is any difficulty in the helpline connectivity, do rectify and solve the problem, CJ Chauhan suggested.

The CJ bench directed the registry to tag these two PIL's with Covid-19 matters list and posted the matter to September 24.