The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is all set to appoint a private advertising and branding agency to publicise its initiatives and programmes on social media platforms, and also to interact with citizens on their grievances. Currently, the civic body is present on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. However, these handles are not active when it comes to interacting with the public on civic issues. The existing social media handles are managed by the staff of MAHA-IT, a government of Maharashtra enterprises. The BMC has finalised an agency, M/s Sanjit Communication Private Limited, for next one year. The project will cost Rs 1.29 crore and the company will provide 28 staff including digital PR assistants, videographers, photographers, commercial artists who will handle the social media platforms round-the-clock. “In current times, social media is a very important platform where communication with citizens can be used effectively in situations like pandemic, flooding, disasters. The agency’s role will be to help BMC in image makeover and branding,” said an official from BMC. While a Twitter account of BMC was started in 2013, an effective use of the social media platform was started only in 2019 after former municipal commissioner Pravin Pardeshi pushed for it. Now, apart from the main Twitter handle of @mybmc, there are 24 accounts of administrative wards across the city.
