Apart from a deluge of complaints about corruption among government officials, the toll-free number (23454071) announced by the Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, also received an occasional grievance call about civic problems!
Interestingly, people also called for their problems with municipalities, such as non-functioning streetlights, erratic water supply and others, officials informed.
Maximum complaints received, however, were about corruption among village and mandal-level revenue officials, including Village Revenue Officers (VRO), Mandal Revenue Officers (MRO), and also employees of the Collectorates from various districts.
The second-most heard complaint was about non-disbursement/cancellation of pensions and ration cards, officials said. Some even complained that sugar was not given to them as part of the monthly ration.
Many also called to air grievances about lack of houses, and some requested for loans for self-employment. There were also requests for assistance from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
While Mr. Rao had announced the toll-free number during his public meeting in Warangal, officials vouch that it was totally a spontaneous announcement, and not pre-planned. “The Chief Minister just turned to somebody while the meeting was on, and asked for his own office contact number, before announcing it to the public. After that, the officials had to run around and hurriedly request for the number to be made toll-free and connected to the call centre of the Arogyasri Trust,” another official informed. The call centre at Jubilee Hills had received 2,534 calls on a single day after the announcement. Even on the second day, complaints kept pouring in, leaving the lines busy for as many people. In order to cope with the rush, a request was placed to the telecom authorities to reinforce the existing 30 lines with 30 more.
The call centre at Jubilee Hills receives 2,534 calls on a
single day
