If you’ve discovered a minor leak in your plumbing or a small crack in your window pane, you are probably going to be harassed more than in a situation where some major repair work is required. With a shortage in manpower and simple repairs costing higher amounts, citizens in Hyderabad have been facing a tough time in getting household repairs done by  handymen such as electricians, carpenters, plumbers, painters and masons completed with ease. However, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has come up with a solution to the predicament. They call it the ‘Nagaramitra Services’.

The concept is simple –  train people to be electricians, carpenters, plumbers, painters, masons and so on, and also generate employment for the youth at the same time.

The new initiative has already been started in a few GHMC circles to train unemployed youth in these sectors. Applicants to the programme are being trained by the National Academy of Construction (NAC). As many as 90 to 100 people have been successfully trained by the NAC and all of them will be linked to a call centre of GHMC. If there are any technical problems, PGC Infotech private limited will provide technical and manual support for two years.

The initial leg of implementation includes the GHMC circles of Kapra, Uppal and L B Nagar. About 70 services providers have been identified in Kapra circle while 35 in Uppal circle. In LB Nagar, certification of service providers is being assessed.

Speaking to Express, the GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar said that the corporation is planning on extending the Nagaramitra Services to all circles in the city in a phased manner.

The GHMC will establish call centres at all these circles, besides providing the required infrastructure and maintaining the Self Help Groups (SHGs). The phone numbers of the trained electricians, carpenters, plumbers, painters and masons will be available at the call centre.

The Commissioner also said that there is a huge requirement of these basic handymen in the city and that the GHMC is keen to impart technical training to the unemployed youth for household repairs works.

For each work, rates will be fixed and the rate chart will be put up at the call centre so as to regulate the pricing and ensure that both workman and customer get a fair deal. GHMC will levy 10 per cent service charge in order to run and maintain the call centres, he added.

People who want to avail the said services can call the centres and provide details of the requirement. The call centre will pass on the information to the concerned technician for attending to the job.

With the project just taking off, it is estimated that it would take three months to launch the services in all circles to full capacity. In the next phase, Nagaramitra Services will be established in Serilingampally 11 and 12, Malkajgiri and Kukaptaplly.

Citizen customers can the Dial for help Nagaramitra Services (call centre) on 9885098855 while Vodafone customers can call for service on 57265.