India News | Andhra IT Minister Launches 'WhatsApp Governance' Programme with 161 Services

Amaravati, Jan 30 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Thursday launched WhatsApp governance service Mana Mitra here, offering 161 citizen-centric services.

Government hopes it will save people from the need to visit government offices multiple times for procuring documents.

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The IT Minister launched the services at the Chief Minister's residence in Undavalli in Guntur district.

Services pertaining to the Endowments, Energy, APSRTC, Revenue, Anna Canteens, CM Relief Fund (CMRF) and Municipal Departments would be provided in the first phase and the second phase is expected to promise more services.

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"We believe it is a historic moment. To get basic documents why should they (people) come to government offices or meet an MLA." Lokesh said during the launch.

The IT Minister said he had the idea of offering a service like this from his padayatra days. Earlier, officials gave Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu a presentation about the initiative at a review meeting held in secretariat on Wednesday.

Officials explained to the CM on how people availing these services will choose their options.

While the first phase of the WhatsApp governance programme provides 161 services, in the second phase, 360 services will be made available, Lokesh said. In total, he said, around 520 services will be offered through this programme, in the future.

Further, the CM directed officials to ensure that people's data doesn't fall into the hands of cyber criminals and called for the strengthening of forensic and cybersecurity. On October 22, 2024, the state inked a deal with Meta to extend services through whatsapp.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)