Trial of Delhi govt's WhatsApp governance project likely next month

New Delhi: The Delhi government is expected to conduct trials of its WhatsApp governance project next month, officials said on Sunday.

The project involves bringing various services of the government available online, including issuance of important documents like birth and caste certificate, in a faceless manner through WhatsApp, they said.

"The project is in final stages and a trial run is likely around next month. Also, some concessionaires have been empanelled through bidding to run the project," a senior government officer said.

The initiative will use AI-enabled chatbots and WhatsApp dynamic flow to enable service requests, proactive notifications, and certificate delivery, ensuring a simple, user-friendly, and 24x7 digital governance interface, officials said.

The digital governance model will help people for availing a range of services without the need to make visits to offices of departments concerned, by offering real-time updates efficient service delivery in given time period, they said.

Nearly 50 services of different departments have been identified, for which one can apply through WhatsApp, they said.

The Information and Technology Department is working on the project.

In order to execute the WhatsApp services model, a dashboard will be developed for real-time monitoring and management of the departments' interactions with the applicants, officials said.