By Janhvi Ahuja
Pune: In an attempt to better their civic functioning and performance, the Pune Municipal Corporation has opted to employ Artificial Intelligence. Their aim is to understand the problems and queries of people while upgrading their operations in meeting the expectations of citizens.
To gather accurate information regarding the struggles of citizens, PMC has multiple social media platforms that issue forms for people to submit any issues that they might be facing. Through this, citizens can enter their complaints through social media and writing. They have also established a ‘PMC Care’ system where the civic body provides citizens a place to voice their concerns on platforms such as Instagram, X, Facebook and other platforms.
Rahul Jagtap, the incharge for civic information technology at their IT department mentioned, “The PMC gets thousands of communications every day from citizens on civic issues through social media. Thus, the idea of analysing public sentiments on social media will help civic administration understand the public needs and improve performance to deliver services as per the needs of citizens.”
Since its initiation, the initiative has been put on a trial basis to monitor its functioning, advantages and disadvantages. This will be a three-month period and if the AI system is successful in its operations, it shall be continued further.
In addition to the PMC handles on various social media platforms, the analysis will also incorporate data from other sources related to Pune, such as newspapers and YouTube channels. Over a period of three months, the private agency will provide weekly reports, analyzing a minimum of 1,000 posts and 30,000 comments through software tools. He mentioned that it will oversee all Pune-related social media accounts while also identifying and tracking the most viral narratives concerning the PMC.
Furthermore, the PMC has opted to employ an AI chatbot to review PMC-related government resolutions, as well as all resolutions from the state and union urban development department, along with PMC circulars. This initiative aims to enhance the speed and effectiveness of service delivery by the Pune civic body. “This will enable the PMC to identify the relevant resolutions that could be implemented faster and with accuracy,” he stated.
The PMC has established a call centre that contacts defaulters to settle their property tax obligations. However, the number of defaulters exceeds one lakh, which is significantly high, and due to insufficient human resources, effective management of this issue has not been feasible, stated Jagtap.”More than 6,000 call recordings generated by the call centre will be examined to develop the call bot that will facilitate communication with the defaulters.”
Avinash Sakpal, the chief for the property tax department under PMC stated, “We don’t know how it will work, but we are using AI on a trial basis. Hopefully, it helps in increasing revenue collection.”