The New Delhi Municipal Council is all set to revive its Interactive Voice Response System,by launching a special software to enable local residents to register complaints through SMS. The software will do away with long queues for meeting the municipal official concerned or registering a complaint with the Central Control Room. Be it a problem related to water supply,electricity,drainage or sewerage in the NDMC area of the Capital,residents will now be able to send a message to a toll-free number and the grievances will then get registered on the civic bodys website. As part of the same system,residents will also be able to call a toll-free number and register complaints. The new system will be launched by the civic body next week. It would,however,be made available to the public free of cost only after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This IVR system technology will service high call volumes,reduce costs and improve customer experience by way of providing an automated system and pre-recorded voice messages to service requests. The NDMC currently receives all complaints through a Central Control Room in the civic body headquarters at the Palika Kendra. It also receives no current and no streetlight complaints through telephone from area-wise complaint centres. The NDMC had launched the IVR system for the first time in April 2004. The facility had been started for the convenience of consumers,so they could register complaints through a phone call. The system,however,had become defunct within a year of its launch due to some billing problems. According to NDMC officials,the IVR system had become defunct as the civic body had not paid its bill for several months.
