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.