Senior citizens would now be able to avail municipal services at their doorstep. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has announced the Nagar Bandhu scheme to assist elderly citizens in availing municipal services at home. According to mayor of KMC, Firhad Hakim, who announced the scheme during the latest Talk To Mayor, the initiative is meant to help those elderly citizens and physically disabled persons who face difficulties in physically being present for payment of taxes or availing other municipal services.

As elaborated by Mr Hakim, there are many such citizens who face difficulties in visiting offices of the municipal corporation or are not familiar with modern technologies like using mobile phones and computers. Standing in long queues is more difficult for them.

Advertisement

With the introduction of Nagar Bandhu, such citizens would be able to avail these services at home with the help of KMC officials. Elucidating on the process, the mayor said that the services would be given through the KMC WhatsApp chatbot number-8335999111.

Citizens would have to register on the number after which an official would visit the house of the citizen for providing services like filing mutations, filling of forms or paying property taxes. According to Mr Hakim, the services would be introduced from 1 January 2024. Initially, the KMC would not charge any fee for the service. However, later some nominal amount for the services would be collected.