Page 81 - HUDCO Award for Best Practices - 2024

THEME: URBAN GOVERNANCE

Water tanker Operators

The truck operators were very cautious about entering into this project when the initial meeting was convened by the Hon’ble Mayor.
Their concerns regarding reduction in revenue and possible micromanagement was the major reason. But once the system started
rolling out fully, they understood the advantages both in terms of quality of service they could provide and the regular revenue stream
they could access. Moreover, the association with corporations made them more acceptable to the customers. The small players
were the ones who benefitted the most as in an open market they could not compete with the large players who bagged most of the
contracts from big malls and hotels. This project provided a level playing field for all the operators and helped them to provide quality
service to all customers alike.

PROCESS

One of the main hurdles we faced initially was the resistance from truck drivers to fall in line with the guidelines issued by the
corporation. Regular training and communication were done with the group to ensure that they understood the importance of
each direction. They used to collect cash from the customer initially as part of a habit that they had. Information was given to the
customers not to provide any cash to the truck drivers for the service. This was communicated via SMS and also via the Smart
Trivandrum mobile app. Once the service was completed, they were also asked to give feedback about the quality and to raise any
grievance. This way the corporation was able to identify any problems which the customers faced. The processes and systems were
tuned to prevent such problems and customer experience have improved a lot since the launch. The resistance from the public to
resort to online and digital payment mechanisms were another challenge. There were certain class of people who were not tech savvy
and did not have any digital payment mechanisms or who choose not to do any digital payments. Corporation setup a help-desk to
help such customers to move to digital payments and to use online payment gateways with debit cards or net banking. This initial
problem was solved very easily after COVID 19 lockdown when digital payments became popular.
RESULTS ACHIEVED

The impact of the system can be clearly seen in the drastic increase in the number bookings that the corporation receives on a day-to-
day basis. The main objective of the system has been met various agencies and the Govt of Kerala has recognized the corporation for
the exemplary intervention it did in this problem domain. The system is popular among the citizens and the businesses as it provides
them with an economically viable option to get quality drinking water within minimum time. Also, the system helped in bringing
strict separation between tankers supplying drinking water from those supplying water for construction purposes. Earlier drinking
water tankers were used to supply construction water which was a source of pollution. By separate licensing norms, colour coding
and GPS based monitoring the corporation has ensured that both classes of tankers operate exclusively in their own domain.

• Registered almost all water tanker vehicles operating in the city limits amounting to approx. 112 vehicles. Inspections were
carried out on all vehicles to ensure that all Bye law conditions were adhered and licence was issued. Annual licence renewal
procedure was implemented to re-evaluate vehicles every year.

• A Bye law detailing the operating principles and rules governing the system was passed by corporation and approved by Govt. of
Kerala and published in the gazette.

• System helped to provide 24 * 7 water tanker service to the citizens.
• AIS 140 GPS devices were fitted in the vehicles to provide real time location data.

• Regular water sample collection and testing facility was implemented for ensuring quality of water. The test data is published in
the web portal for social auditing purposes.
• Public water tanker booking facility was provided through multiple booking channels.
• Call Centre operation was provided 24*7 to ensure proper grievance redressal of customers on time.

• Driver mobile app was provided to issue digital passes which can be verified by KWA officials from the vending point.
• Strict separation of vehicles transporting drinking and non-drinking water was implemented with colour coding for easy
identification. (Blue for drinking and Brown for non-drinking).

• Level playing field was brought about in the industry whereby even small players could earn a livelihood without falling prey to
the competitive pricing models implemented by large players.

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