BMC to provide 80 essential services through WhatsApp chatbot

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a WhatsApp chatbot to provide 80 essential services to the people including residents, tourists and businesses. The chatbot called ‘My BMC Assist’ will be free to use and is available in English and Marathi for the convenience of people.

The MyBMC Assist chatbot is built on the WhatsApp Business platform and will ensure quick and easy answers to multiple questions in real-time, help send alerts and reminders and enable BMC to be responsive round the clock, an official statement said.

The people can avail of the services through WhatsApp number 8999228999. To avail of the facility, the WhatsApp users will have to send ‘Hi’ to the helpline number then the chatbot will reply with the welcome message after which the user will have to select the language before getting into the menu options for the required services.

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Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched the chatbot in a virtual event. “The country has been witnessing a large-scale adoption of technology and this is an opportunity for us to leverage its benefits for the citizens. 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,” the Chief Minister said.

He emphasised that the MyBMC Assist will not only help the administration to best serve this city’s residents but also aid the government in establishing a transparent and accountable model of governance.