Consumer services remain disrupted in Hyderabad with water board data centre malfunction for third consecutive day

Water tanker services and consumer grievance redressal have been severely disrupted in Hyderabad for the third day due to a data centre malfunction at HMWSSB. Manual operations have led to long queues and delayed services, sparking widespread consumer complaints.

Hyderabad: Water supply through tankers and consumer redressal services in the city remain disrupted with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) continuing to fight the technical glitch that impacted its data centre for the third day on Saturday.

The water board’s Metro Customer Care (MCC) has been flooded by complaints from consumers reporting difficulties in accessing water supply and sewerage services.

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With the glitch disrupting online activity, the water board’s manual functioning resulted in long queues of water tankers at filling stations at Erragadda, SR Nagar, Kukatpally, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Red Hills.

Inordinate delays were seen at filling stations as the entire process is manually operated after the HMWS&SB) data center malfunctioned on July 31.

The services affected included tanker booking and delivery and according to information available, complaints were getting piled up related to no water supply, blockage of sewerage network, erratic water supply, and water contamination.

The water board usually resolves complaints within 24 hours but this has been impacted. All calls received through the MCC are forwarded to the general managers of all Operations & Maintenance Divisions through the WhatsApp groups.

The general managers, in turn, deployed field personnel, including linemen and ‘general purpose employees’ (GPEs), at the section offices. They handled the complaints, including water and sewerage-related issues, manually.

A senior official said, “we have circulated the mobile numbers of managers to the resident welfare associations, corporators, and others to reach out to us and have their grievances redressed.”