Brazilian among 90 people traced by J-K Connect Centre

Bringing much relief to the kin of the missing persons, Jammu and Kashmir's round-the-clock helpline "J-K Connect Centre" has traced 90 people including a Brazilian woman so far.

"About 90 persons including a Brazilian woman have been traced so far by our Centre," head of the Centre and Special Secretary to Government, Animal Husbandry Department, Amit Sharma said.

He said the Brazilian woman was traced within a couple of hours after she was reported missing, yesterday.

"A phone call was received in the J-K Connect Centre from a Gurgoan resident Divya yesterday evening pertaining to her Brazalian friend Lucy Aruzau, who was last seen at Pahalgam in Kashmir," Sharma said.

The Connect Centre made all efforts to successfully trace the foreign citizen with this information and finally succeeded in connecting Lucy with her friend at Gurgaon, he said, adding, Divya complimented the team of the Centre for this effort.

Similarly, a family of nine persons in Kashmir was traced and evacuated with swift action of J-K Connect Centre a couple of days back, Centre's Nodal officer said.

He informed that the list of the missing persons along with their relevant details is being shared with all the rescue and relief authorities such as Army, NDRF, Deputy Commissioners, District Senior Superintendents of Police, State Health Officials, Railway Officials and other authorities concerned.

"By such efforts, 90 persons have been traced so far and the information about the same has been conveyed to their near and dear ones," he said.

Sharma further told that all mobile operators in the state have been directed to issue bulk sms to all their customers in state due to which the quantum of calls has increased manifold in the Connect Centre and facilitating the purpose for which it has been opened.
The round-the-clock dedicated helpline through J-K Connect Centre was established on September 16 at the ground floor of the office complex of divisional commissioner at rail head complex here.

"We are even calling for the record of about 2,000 missing persons, for which calls were received by previous helpline centre setup at Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC)," he said.

The Centre has come up on the advise of Prime Minister's office on the pattern adopted by Uttrakhand government during the Kedarnath tragedy.

A Facebook page with the domain name 'facebook.com/operationconnectjk' has also been created for the purpose.

Apart from this, four round-the-clock telephone helpline numbers have been started with the numbers 18001807049 (toll-free), 18001807050 (toll-free) 0191-2471522 and 0191-2471922.