Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday introduced a WhatsApp chatbot for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), marking a significant advancement in digital government by enhancing citizens’ convenience and accessibility to municipal services. Local Self-Governance Day was celebrated throughout the state at the same time as the launch. Through a dedicated WhatsApp number, the new chatbot provides more than 20 important services, enabling individuals to access services from the comfort of their homes, including trade license applications, property tax payments, and sanitation requests.
Users simply need to send a “Hi” message to ‘7653011832’ to begin interacting with the bot, which supports communication in English, Odia, and Hindi.
In addition to basic services, the chatbot has an AI-powered “Chat with Us” feature that allows citizens to ask questions about BMC officials, ward specifics, and other pertinent information. By reducing in-person trips to BMC offices, this effort seeks to improve service efficiency and save time. The BMC’s official social media post on platform X claims that the chatbot uses cutting-edge Conversational AI technology to combine several services into a single, cohesive platform, which facilitates residents’ use of municipal services.
