“The landline phone at my residence is not working. Can you help?” was the call a person manning the telephone at the Information Centre at the Coimbatore Corporation received a few days ago.
Though the Coimbatore Corporation has nothing to do with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, the Information Centre employee shared the contact number of the customer service centre at BSNL and directed the caller to get in touch with the people there.
Liquor shop
Another call landed at the Information Centre. This time, the caller wanted a neighbourhood TASMAC-run liquor shop relocated. The employee responded by asking the caller to petition the district administration or the TASMAC officials in Coimbatore and provided the numbers.
The Centre, which has been functioning for the last 10 days with the number 2334455 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. from Mondays to Saturdays since June 4, has been getting calls on issues that have nothing to do with just the civic body, say Corporation employees supervising the Centre operations.
Former Commissioner Anshul Mishra, the brain behind the Centre, has instructed them to not reject calls that have nothing to do issues related to the Corporation but attend the same and provide possible help to the callers.
Calls on issues related to Corporation, the Centre supervisors say, are converted into texts and sent as mails to officials concerned. They are expected to reply within a specified time.
And, the time varies depending on how the complaint is classified – critical, high, medium or low. After the expiry of the time limit, the e-mails are forwarded to the superiors of the officials concerned.
This is in addition to the daily situation report that is generated and sent to the commissioner or commissioner in-charge.
The supervisors say the Centre numbers each complaint related to the Corporation, whether received over phone or from Mayor, councillors, MLAs or from the Chief Minister's cell, and the same is shared with the complainant, who can monitor the follow-up action from the Corporation's website by using the unique number.
To ensure better working of the system and follow-up action, two employees each from the four Corporation zones liaison with the Centre's staff.
The frequent complaints the Centre receives relate to chocked drain, faulty streetlights, poor water supply, poor garbage disposal, damaged roads, etc.
The four staff members say that they get around 30 calls a day. In the last 10 days, since its inception, the Centre has received nearly 350 calls.
The supervisors say the Corporation plans to set up satellite centres of the Information Centre at the four zonal offices to enable residents to submit their complaints there as well. The computers will be connected to the server and there will be no duplication of work.
Deputy Commissioner K. Jayaraman says the Corporation is putting in place a mechanism to ensure better co-ordination among departments and provide satisfactory service to the city's residents.
