Urban local bodies asked to come up with WhatsApp no. for citizen interface

KOLKATA: Now, citizens residing under the urban local bodies across the state can send their grievances to a dedicated WhatsApp number seeking quick redressal.

The Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (UD & MA) department has asked all the urban local bodies to come up with a dedicated WhatsApp number for interface with the citizens so that their grievances can be addressed in a more effective and efficient manner.

Principal Secretary of UD & MA department Khalil Ahmed has written to chairpersons of all municipalities and commissioners of all municipal corporations asking them to operationalise such dedicated WhatsApp service by August 1. The latter have been asked to widely publicise the WhatsApp numbers in their respective jurisdictional area.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) from middle of May has introduced a WhatsApp chatbot service named “Show to Your Mayor.” The citizens can upload their problems along with picture through the chatbot and accordingly measures are taken and the action taken report is shared with the complainant and Mayor Firhad Hakim. Issues related to drainage and sewerage, road maintenance, birth/ death certificate, building related problem, mutation, assessment, social welfare scheme, waterbody cleaning etc can be posted through the chatbot number 8335999111.

The Talk to Mayor programme is held every Saturday for one hour in which Kolkata Mayor Hakim directly receives phone calls from citizens and listens to their problems and takes measures to mitigate them.