The helpline (1077), launched by the district administration to respond to the queries related to COVID-19, has turned out to be a failure in Mandya district, due to lack of manpower.
There is no dedicated personnel to attend to the helpline and is being managed by the control room. Those calling 1077 helpline do not get the necessary information, complain the people.
As the district administration has published the helpline number in newspapers, people call the number to know about COVID-19 and clear doubts. But, the control room personnel are helpless and are not able to provide them necessary information, for which the helpline was launched.
A resident of Panahakanahalli said, "I had called the helpline to know about the symptoms and treatment. They took my name and address but did not provide the required information.
According to the control room personnel, the health department had deputed two people for a couple of days. As there were not many calls, they were withdrawn and engaged for other works. We attend to the calls, but it is not possible for us to explain about the corona-related issues, he said.