Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 1 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Thursday opened a round-the-clock call centre at his office. As many as 2,300 people called the toll-free numbers within just an hour phoning in their grievances.


As soon as the centre opened, the first call came from a family who had lost their father, a state government employee, and was looking for a job for one of their children.

Chandy said the complaint would be looked into and information regarding its progress would be given to the family in a time-bound manner.

This is billed to be the first office of any chief minister in the country to have a 24/7 call centre.

"Sixteen employees will work in the call centre in three shifts. Seven calls can be attended to at a time. The complaint will be fed into a computer and as soon as it is registered, an SMS will be sent to the complainant.

"The moment the complaint is registered, it goes online to five officials. If the complaint is not attended within the time frame, an SMS will go to the higher official in the department," said Chandy's office.

Those calling from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) lines should dial 1076 and from other service providers they should dial 1800 425 1076. Those calling from abroad should dial 0471 1076. All three numbers are toll-free.

Chandy, soon after taking over as chief minister May 18, announced a round-the-clock call centre while announcing a 100-day programme.