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Mumbai, India, Jan, 2022 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched a WhatsApp chatbot called MyBMC Assist on Friday to make it easier for citizens, tourists and businesses in Mumbai to reach out to the administration, seek support and access a range of resources. With this chatbot, BMC will be the first city administration in India to build a comprehensive helpline on WhatsApp to streamline and make citizen engagement more accessible. The bot has been developed by Infobip technologies. The bot is free to use and will be available in English and Marathi. To access the bot, WhatsApp users need to simply send ‘Hi’ to a WhatsApp number.

The MyBMC Assist chatbot is built on the WhatsApp Business platform. WhatsApp said the chatbot serves multiple use- cases that cater to citizens, tourists and businesses and is built with the latest intuitive features of the WhatsApp Business platform that presents a menu of options so people do not need to type out a response.

Citizens can Cnd information about nearby amenities, schools, civic services, BEST services and tourist destinations etc on the chatbot. It also allows direct registration of complaints, application for festival permissions, license renewal and payments.

The chatbot was launched at a virtual event on Friday in the presence of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and Mumbai mayor Kishore Pednekar.

Thackeray said the country has been witnessing a large-scale adoption of technology and this is an opportunity to leverage its beneCts for the citizens of this country. "Today, WhatsApp is one of the most widely used technology applications and I stand proud that our BMC is tapping its potential to bring about transformation in the lives of the masses. MyBMC Assist will not only help us to best serve this city’s residents but also aid us in establishing a transparent and accountable model of governance. The successful launch of this initiative is credited to all who have worked in synergy towards making their vision a reality, with the best interest of the citizens at the heart. We will continue to work towards setting a benchmark for all city administrative bodies, globally," he added.

Shivnath Thukral, public policy director at WhatsApp India, said intuitive technologies like WhatsApp have made critical contributions in helping governments deliver citizen centric services in a simple, safe and secure manner. "BMC's custom tech-solution in the form of MyBMC Assist Helpline is equipped with 80+ citizen services and is India's Crst comprehensive city administration chatbot on WhatsApp. The chatbot is a testament to the eVective and scalable, transformational power of technology put to use by the Mumbai city administration. We remain committed to supporting BMC’s eVort to build a world class platform that ensures easy access to citizen redressal and services for all, he said.

Harsha Solanki, managing director for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal at Infobip said Infobip has a relevant history of facilitating government entities in diVerent states. "This time, in partnership with WhatsApp, we have enabled BMC to launch an oVicial WhatsApp business account. It will be a bilingual chatbot available in English and Marathi, with interactive features and proCle-led services. We are glad to have achieved yet another milestone with WhatsApp and are hopeful about integrating more such platforms successfully, in the future," she said.

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Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Date Posted: Monday, January 17, 2022