DJB gets over 2.88 lakh calls on helpline '1916'

Delhi Jal Board today said that it has received over 2.88 lakh calls on its toll-free helpline -- 1916 in the last nine months, which will help the board in allocating more funds and resources in areas facing water crisis.
According to DJB officials, the toll-free helpline was launched last September, has received 2,88,379 calls till June 14 this year. Out of these calls 1,06,127 were genuine complaints related to water issue.
Official claims maximum complaints were related to water tankers, followed by no water availability and short supply.
"We have made use of the Geographical Information System (GIS) to locate the areas with the maximum number of complaints. DJB will be able to allocate funds and human resources to the areas where they are needed the most," official said.

In addition, the GIS system has enabled the DJB to bring in suitable changes in its summer action plan, which identified vulnerable areas for water shortage, among others.
At present, DJB is conducting a quarterly review to see how many complaints are being escalated to the senior official level.

According to officials, through the receipt of complaints, DJB has been able to do a profiling of consumers, constituency-wise and ward-wise. Real-time monitoring of the complaints has been made possible by the 24X7 call centre.
The Consumer Redressal Management has been designed in a way that the complaints can be tracked at any time by the complainant.

To facilitate reception of complaints, DJB has further upgraded the call centre by increasing the number of operational telephone lines from 10 to 25.
By using the helpline number, the consumers can register any complaint concerning water, wastewater and billing-related issues through the available platform.