Page 80 - HUDCO Award for Best Practices - 2024

THEME: URBAN GOVERNANCE

ESTABLISHMENT OF PRIORITIES

The primary objective of the system is to provide clean drinking water to the customer within a minimum time period. The regulatory
mechanism and execution system was constituted based on a bylaw which the council of corporation had passed. A software was
developed and a team of health officials was set up to operate the system. The full process from empanelment of vehicles to distribution
of payments to tankers was done with digital support. The software system formed the operating machinery and made decisions
based on the provisions in the bylaw. The officers worked as part of the digital system which eliminated any manual intervention
from any level as they did not have any decision-making powers. Training was given to drivers, officers, and vending point operators
to familiarise them with the software and mobile apps. They were taught how to access the relevant information they need to operate
on a daily basis. A 24/7 call centre was set up by the corporation to monitor the operations and to resolve any grievances from the
public, drivers, vending point operators or officers.

MOBILISATION OF RESOURCES

Corporation utilised its own funds to develop the software systems and to purchase necessary hardware for operations. Once the
operations began, the service charge collected by the corporation for each trip was used for operation and maintenance activities of
the system. Since the revenue obtained as service charge is much more than the operating expenses, the system is fully sustainable
and currently there is surplus funds in the project account.

• Implementing Officer -A Health Supervisor is given the charge.
• Nodal Officer - An officer from Kerala Water Authority is given charge for easy liaison with KWA.

• 25/7 call centre - Operated by corporation using its own staff.
• Transoft Solutions - Software vendor (Startup firm developed the system and to provide technical support).

• Federal Bank - Providing banking services for the system.
• Drivers and Owners - Operates the trucks and provides services to the public.
• Vending point operators - Verifies that water is taken from KWA vending points for each trip.

Elected Representatives

The leadership and initiative from the elected representatives, council and the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram corporation was a
major component in the success of the system. From passing the bye law to involvement in areas where public support is needed,
they did a great job in both understanding the importance of the system and in communicating it to the public. The stringent stands
taken by the council in dealing with the illegal collection of water from ponds and quarries has strengthened the enforcement squads
and thereby has helped in eliminating illegal operations by the tankers.
Corporation Officials

The movement of the operating mechanism of water tanker management from a file based manual system to a digital system was very
well accepted by the officials involved. The capacity building training conducted for the officials in this respect was a huge success
and many significant suggestions and improvements were brought forward by them to fine tune the system. Once they understood
the effectiveness and the speed at which actions could be taken, the officials were keen to bring in more protocols under the system.
During the initial stages, the health officials strongly patrolled the city to detect and detain any illegal operators which ran parallel
to the system.

Kerala water authority staff

The water vending points are all managed by Kerala Water Authority (KWA) at various locations under various divisions, Aruvikkara,
Vellayamalam, PTP, Valakkode and Chozhattukotta. They are provided with an account in the online system through which they are
able to access necessary reports for proper monitoring and analysis of the operations.

Vending point Operators
The KWA officials at vending points were very keen to be part of the system and learned to use the operator mobile app to scan the
QR code and to get the information on the truck. They utilized the reporting mechanism of the system to derive daily reports and to
track the details of tankers which collected water from the vending point.

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