Telangana CDMA launches WhatsApp channel for property tax payment
Hyderabad, Feb 26 :The Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA), Telangana on Thursday announced the launching of a dedicated WhatsApp channel, to ease the process of tax payment for citizens across the region.
This service will be free-to-use and will also function as a source for up-to-date information about tax dues.
People can simply send a ‘Hi’ to CDMA, Telangana’s official WhatsApp account on +91 90002 53342, to easily access these services and pay their taxes conveniently via a debit card, credit card or internet banking.
The ‘CDMA, Telangana Property Tax Module’ is an automated ‘chatbot’ service which has allowed citizens to substitute visits to the Municipal office, enabling contactless transactions during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The chatbot is currently available in English and Telugu, with CDMA working to add Urdu as an additional language soon.
The WhatsApp-based service is also expected to significantly boost Tax collections.
Commenting on the initiative, Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration KT Rama Rao, said, with close to 20 lakh property tax assessments across urban local bodies, our citizens are still paying their taxes through POS machines, or citizen service centres.
In line with our Digital Telangana Initiatives, we have introduced a citizen service on WhatsApp that has already yielded positive results and feedback, the Minister said and thanked the WhatsApp team for their help in setting up this service.
We will continue to add more services on CDMA’s WhatsApp chatbot to ensure these services remain resourceful to citizens, he added.
“We’re delighted to partner with CDMA, Telangana and support their efforts to promote a Digital India through impactful Government to Citizen (G2C) services on WhatsApp. Since the onset of the pandemic, WhatsApp has increasingly become a preferred platform for conversations not only between friends, businesses and customers but also between governments and citizens, said Shivnath Thukral, Head of Public Policy, WhatsApp India.(UNI)
