State run BSNL has opened helpline numbers — 1503 and 09412024365 — to enable people find out the last mobile phone location of their relatives and friends stranded in flood-hit Uttarakand.
“BSNL opened Helpline for getting last mobile location update in Uttarakhand. No is 1503 or 09412024365,” BSNL CMD R K Upadhyay told PTI.
Despite the best efforts of the administration in a multi-agency operation, some 22,000 people are still stranded in affected areas following massive floods and landslide triggered by monsoon rains last Sunday.
Private sector telecom major AirtelBSE -3.23 % too has started free of cost Emergency Alert Service for the customers registered in the Visitor Location Register (VLR) in affected districts.
Airtel said arrangements have been made to inform victims about the emergency Helpline Toll Free number of India Army.
Contact numbers of all government, army, paramilitary helplines to VLR customers are being provided through KCI (key customer information) SMS, it added.
A large number of telecom towers were affected in the nature’s fury.
BSNL had yesterday said it will restore functioning of mobile towers at crucial locations in Uttarakhand within next three days.