SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Government is preparing to roll out an AI-powered conversational platform that will allow citizens to access 100 high-footfall government services through WhatsApp, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo said on Monday.
Dulloo reviewed the Information Technology Department’s preparedness for the proposed platform at a meeting with Administrative Secretaries, Deputy Commissioners and senior officials, including representatives of the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The first phase will cover 100 frequently accessed services, enabling users to apply for services, submit documents, track applications, make payments and receive official communications through WhatsApp without downloading separate applications or navigating multiple government portals.
The proposed Multi-Channel Conversational Messaging API Solution will use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to provide a multilingual interface for government services.
According to Commissioner Secretary, IT Saurabh Bhagat, J&K currently provides 1,710 e-services through digital platforms including e-UNNAT, ServicePlus and Revenue Plus. Of these, 100 services have been shortlisted for integration in the first phase.
The selected services include issuance of income, domicile, caste, EWS and RBA certificates, besides access to Fard, Girdawari, Jamabandi and mutation records under the Revenue Department.
Transport-related services proposed for integration include driving licence issuance and renewal, vehicle ownership transfers, e-Challan payments and fancy registration number e-auctions.
The platform is also expected to provide access to birth and death certificates, commercial establishment NOCs and building permissions, besides welfare schemes such as Ladli Beti, marriage assistance and post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships.
Electricity and water bill payments, ration card modifications, agricultural schemes under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), JKSSB registrations and pilgrimage-related services are among the other services identified for the first phase.
The platform is proposed to support Urdu, Hindi and English, along with one-time registration and Single Sign-On (SSO), allowing users to access multiple services without repeatedly entering personal details.
A unified citizen database linked with the Family ID system is also envisaged. Other planned features include AI-assisted conversations, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for document processing and validation, multiple payment gateways, automated grievance escalation and modular document-submission workflows.
Dulloo directed the IT Department to coordinate with line departments to accelerate backend integration and ensure that the identified services can be delivered seamlessly through the platform.
He also called for performance benchmarking, User Acceptance Testing and training of government employees before the rollout.
The department informed the meeting that a dedicated System Integrator had already been onboarded through the NeGD empanelment framework.
JK SAMADHAN 2.0, the government’s grievance redressal platform, has been selected as the first service for integration. A functional demonstration of the multilingual citizen interface has already been developed and showcased, the department said.
Dulloo said the initiative should reduce procedural difficulties and physical visits to government offices, with particular focus on improving access for people in rural and remote areas, including through interfaces capable of operating on low-bandwidth internet connections.
