Telangana pollution board to start 24-hour grievance cell

The toll free number – 10741 will be active in about a week and will directly be monitored by the Member Secretary of the board

The Telangana Pollution Control Board (TPCB) is starting a 24-hour grievance cell for the first time, taking notice of rising number of citizen’s complaints pertaining to pollution.

The toll free number 10741 will be active in about a week and will directly be monitored by the Member Secretary of the board. The board officials also aim to act on complaints within 24 hours of receiving them.

“We get the highest number of complaints during night, so it’s important to have a 24-hour complaint cell,” said V. Anil Kumar, Member Secretary, TPCB.

“Upon receiving a complaint, we will also issue a receipt to the caller and inspect the site within a day or two and serve notices if need arises. We have also chosen a short toll free number to make it easy for the public to remember.”

Responding to criticism

The previous grievance number of the board, functional only during office hours, had come in for some criticism for being unresponsive to some mobile networks. This time around, the board plans to put three employees on the job round-the-clock and are getting clearances from all the mobile operators so as to make it toll free.

After the complaint is resolved, there will also be a mechanism to update the complainants on the status of the case. The service will be available for all the ten districts of Telangana.