The centralised complaint centre of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco), in its new avatar as Minnagam call centre, is betting on redress of all grievances of the electricity consumers in the city.
The call centre has been getting positive feedback from the public. The 24-hour centralised number, 1912, will soon be merged and unified with the Minnagam number 9498794987.
In the centralised call centre 1912, which was toll-free, complaints were registered only for power failures that too within the city. However, in the Minnagam centre, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in June, all grievances with regard to electricity can be registered and the complainants receive prompt feedback from the call centre.
V. Rajagopal, a residents welfare activist of Anna Nagar West Extension, said for any complaint made to the Minnagam Call centre, there is a swift response.
However, he fears that the Fuse Off Call (FOC) functioning for three to four section offices should be operating simultaneously, as there is speculation that the FOC will be closed once Minnagam becomes a permanent feature.
With Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji also stressing the importance of Minnagam call centre for rectifying routine electricity problems of low voltage, irregular power supply, and delay caused in giving power connections, the electricity officials from top to the bottom of the Operation and Maintenance department of Tangedco in the city are on their toes to solve the complaints received at Minnagam centre promptly.
A senior official of Tangedco said the Minister had been reviewing regularly the complaints received at the Minnagam call centre and had been pulling up the local officials in case of any repeated complaints from a particular area.
Recently, Tangedco suspended two section officials of north and south regions but the suspension was revoked after the electricity unions took up the matter with the Chairman and Managing Director Rajesh Lakhoni.
A section of electricity officials in the city are not happy about the prominence given to Minnagam centre and the pressure put on the officials for rectifying the complaints immediately.
An office-bearer of an engineers’ union said officials were under pressure to give priority for complaints received through the Minnagam call centre. Before the Minnagam centre was launched, complaints were received at the centralised number 1912 and were rectified promptly.
The section officials were aggrieved by the complaint calls being forwarded to them even at night although a night team in the FOC functioned and previously complaint calls were automatically routed to the FOC offices. The forwarding of these calls at night increased the workload on section officials, he rued.
However, the senior electricity official denied that any additional workload was being put on the operation and maintenance officials through the Minnagam complaint centre. The grievances were routed to local officials so that they were aware of these issues and steps were taken to prevent any recurrence of the complaints.
The centre operates round the clock at the headquarters and has a minimum of 65 call operators working per shift. The centre operated in three shifts.
