If you live in Gurgaon, you could soon get a phone call — from the civic body of the city. On the other end will be a woman — or a voice that sounds like that of a woman.
“Namaste, main Nagar Nigam se baat kar rahi hun”, the caller will likely say at the beginning of the conversation. You will be asked your name, and then the caller will tell you what civic dues you have pending.
Finally, you will be gently asked if you are facing any problems in paying for civic amenities.
You could be forgiven for wondering if the civic authorities have hired an exceptionally polite and gentle new bunch of recruits to reach out to residents of Gurgaon. In fact, the voice isn’t a human at all, it is an artificial intelligence-powered (AI) chatbot.
The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is preparing to deploy an AI-powered voice that will call residents about their unpaid water and property bills, as well as a range of other issues, such as outdated records. These calls will be followed by WhatsApp messages to the residents, complete with official links, urging them to update details or clear dues.
“We will roll out four chatbots in the coming weeks and months, starting with dedicated ones for property and water bills, as well as chatbots linked to sanitation services and street vendors,” MCG Additional Commissioner Yash Jaluka told The Indian Express.
Jaluka said that of the nearly 1.9 lakh water connections in the city, around 70,000 were not linked to the consumer’s property ID — which is the geo-tagged registration of housing plots with the Urban Local Bodies department of the Haryana government.
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Jaluka said that while in many cases, home addresses and phone numbers are incorrect, some connections are still in the name of the old owners though the properties have changed hands.
Setting the records straight is important because fresh water connection applications will not be processed without these details, Jaluka said.
“The real challenge is not just collecting revenue. It is getting people into the system in the first place,” Jaluka said, adding that while the civic body has revenue targets, it does not know how many people will pay up – and when.
The data generated by the chatbots by making the calls will help MCG work on resolving such issues, he said.
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Maintaining that MCG has to understand consumer sentiments, Jaluka said, “If a consumer says his connection is not registered or has wrong details, the bot will help him get it corrected. At the same time, grievances over payment will be recorded and analysed, as we have to understand sentiments. Human intervention will come later.”
But how will MCG ensure that consumers actually take these calls, when many chatbot numbers come marked as “spam” in a person’s phone?
“We have corresponded with Truecaller to get the chatbot numbers whitelisted and have official tick marks… This will be done in the case of WhatsApp messages as well. We are working with telecom companies to ensure that a green tick comes with MCG branding when the chatbot calls, even if users have enabled the DND (Do Not Disturb) mode,” Jaluka said.
There is more.
The MCG is exploring AI-enabled Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras that can travel inside water pipelines — scanning for cracks, illegal tapping, silt build-up, and even for tree roots intruding into the system.
The cameras would generate AI-based reports, particularly in unplanned colonies where there are no metered water connections, Jaluka said.
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The civic body’s move is in line with a recent crackdown against unmetered water connections, officials said. On March 16, Jaluka inspected various parts of the city, including Kadipur village at Sector 10, looking for unmetered connections.
“If anyone does not have a valid water connection despite multiple warnings and challans, we will be ruthless in disconnecting their supply,” he said.
The threat was actually carried out.
On March 17, two sweet shops in Basai saw their water connections snapped after inspectors found unauthorised usage. In other areas, residents were warned that repeat violations could invite challans or disconnections.
Calling for collective responsibility, MCG Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya has appealed to residents to actively prevent misuse of water connections. He has also invoked Section 180 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, which makes it the duty of every citizen to report such misuse to the authorities.
