CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has announced that birth certificates of children, in pdf format, born within the city limits will now be sent directly to the parents through WhatsApp. The initiative is part of the civic body’s ongoing efforts to expand digital services and improve public access to civic documents.
In addition, the parents can also download the birth certificate through the GCC’s WhatsApp chatbot service by sending a request to 9445061913 from the mobile number registered at the time of birth registration. According to an official release, the initiative is expected to simplify and speed up access to birth certificates for the public.
Meanwhile, the public have urged the corporation to introduce similar measures for death certificates as well. They also called for the process of correcting errors in birth and death certificates to be made simpler and more accessible through online services.
Outgoing corporation commissioner J Kumaragurubaran, in a post on X, described the initiative as a step towards “predictive governance”.