Spark TG, a cloud telephony company that works on unified communications and provides contact centers to its customers, has recently started providing pollution-related information on a toll free number, starting with the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

It works closely with the Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) Weather Toll Free number (1800-180-1717) that not only gives current weather- related information for most of the cities in India but also the current Air Quality Index (AQI). Spark provides Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for air pollution data helping people to make informed decisions about their whereabouts in the city.

The company’s solution also includes the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology’s (IITM) free SAFAR Air Quality App. By downloading it, a person has access to the Air Quality Index in values as well as a colour coded graphic representation.

In an email interview with BusinessLine, Spark TG's COO, Sumitr Tyagi, explains how the service works and the response it has received. Excerpts:

Since when has Spark TG been servicing the Indian Meteorological Department toll free number and what has been your experience?

We have been associated with the Indian Meteorological Department since May 2012. The experience has been good not only with us but with IMD as well. We have enabled an uptime of 99.99 per cent.

As you have started providing pollution-related information on different cities on the toll number only recently, how many inquiries do you get approx in a day?

People in urban areas mainly seek pollution-related information, whereas weather-related information is accessed by all communities. On an average 7,000 to 8,000 calls come per day and these increase during monsoon and extreme weather events like cyclone, snowfall, peak summers and winters. We have a restriction of two calls per unique number. Before the restriction was put the call volume was higher.

Air quality is a complex subject which ordinary citizens may not be able to comprehend. How do you deal with it to make it easy for them to comprehend?

After announcing the AQI in values, the message also conveys the level and its suitability in simple language such as: Moderate, Poor, Very Poor etc, along with WHO guidelines for health issues that some people might experience.

Currently, the toll free number is only giving us information on three cities. How many cities do you plan to cover and what is the time frame?

The weather information is for almost all districts of India, whereas the pollution information is currently for the three cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. As and when IITM will add more cities the same will be updated on the platform.

How do you feel this information actually helps the public? Some examples please.

Weather information is accessed by all communities. It helps general public to plan their routine activities/ outing etc. It helps farmers plan their farming activities, fishermen planning to go into the sea for fishing.

Pollution information is accessed majorly in urban areas by old people, allergic people or people with some respiratory issues.

Are they any other functions that a pollution toll free number plays?

Apart from providing weather and pollution information it also gives ultraviolet radiation information.

Are you getting into any other pollution-related activities in the future? Do you think your service can help in a situation when disaster management could be needed?

In the past we have worked with Skymet for information dissemination to people of Odisha during the Hudhud cyclone, and we are open to working with more companies (government or private) which are looking to launch similar services.

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