No Lines, Just Links: Maharashtra Puts Key Services at Your Fingertips via WhatsApp

In a first-of-its-kind decision, the Maharashtra government has announced that 500 government services will be made available on WhatsApp soon under the Aaple Sarkar initiative. Citizens will be able to book MSRTC and BEST bus tickets, get certificates, lodge complaints, and receive real-time information through a multilingual WhatsApp chatbot in Marathi, Hindi, and English.

Launched at Mumbai Tech Week 2025 in collaboration with Meta, the initiative aims to simplify governance and make it accessible to 125 million people. The chatbot will also have the capability of integrating Meta's AI model Llama to maximize efficiency in retrieval of documents as well as decision-making processes.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis highlighted that this technology-driven initiative aligns with the vision of Maharashtra as a digitally empowered state. IT Minister Ashish Shelar called it an important step in bridging the gap between the people and governance.

Source: Mid-Day, Times of India, NewsBytes