Scanning of social media posts, call bot to recover property tax: Pune civic body to use AI to give a leg-up to its service delivery

“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,” said Rahul Jagtap, incharge of the civic information technology (IT) department.

The initiative is on a trial basis for three months and will be implemented through a private agency, he said. If it yields good results, then it will be continued further, he said.

Along with the PMC handles on various social media sites, the input for analysis will also be taken from other platforms related to Pune, including newspapers and YouTube channels. For three months, the private agency will submit its report every week, scanning a minimum of 1,000 posts and 30,000 comments using software tools, he said, adding that it will monitor all Pune-related social media accounts, along with identifying and tracking top viral narratives about the PMC.

The PMC has also decided to utilise an AI chatbot to read PMC-related government resolutions, all resolutions of the state and union urban development department, and PMC circulars for faster and more effective delivery of services by the Pune civic body. “This will enable the PMC to identify the relevant resolutions that could be implemented faster and with accuracy,” he said.

The Pune civic administration has also planned to increase its revenue from defaulters of property tax. “The PMC will use an AI-based call bot for property tax recovery from 1000 defaulters across different zones in Pune city. The private agency will have to provide logic for the selection of 1,000 defaulters and the call-back frequency,” said Jagtap.

The PMC have appointed a call centre that reaches out to defaulters to clear their property tax dues. Still, the defaulter number is over one lakh, which is very high and due to a lack of human resources, it was not possible to do it effectively, said Jagtap. “Over 6,000 call recordings made through the call centre will be analysed to prepare the call bot through which communication will be done with the defaulters.”

PMC property tax department chief Avinash Sakpal said, “We don’t know how it will work, but we are using AI on a trial basis. Hopefully, it helps in increasing revenue collection.”

Unnecessary spending, says activist

Civic activist Vivek Velankar said the PMC was spending unnecessarily on new things when it could manage without them. “If the PMC is really worried about public sentiments on civic issues, then they should read the newspapers where the citizens express their concern on civic issues. The PMC has not been able to address the concerns raised by citizens in newspapers about how it’s going to deal with those collected through AI,” he said.

Velankar said using the call not for the recovery of property tax will not yield results, as the PMC should take strict action against defaulters rather than merely bombarding them with calls.

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