Municipal corporations and civic bodies can reach every taxpayer and household in the local language with AI voice calls: property tax and water bill due-date reminders, scheme and camp awareness, grievance status updates and post-resolution feedback. The agent uses each citizen's details (name, ward, amount due, due date), sends a payment link by SMS or WhatsApp during the call, and records what the citizen said, so the department gets a report instead of a guess. This runs on Edesy's bulk voice campaigns.
Plan a ward-level pilot: Talk to us, or try the platform free with a small test list.
What civic bodies call citizens about
- Property tax reminders before and after the due date, including rebate deadlines
- Water and sewerage bill reminders, with the amount and consumer number
- Trade licence and renewal reminders for shops and establishments
- Scheme and camp awareness: vaccination drives, health camps, document camps, new schemes
- Grievance updates: "your complaint about street lights has been resolved"
- Feedback calls after a complaint is closed or a service is delivered
- Emergency and seasonal notices: water supply schedules, monsoon advisories
For one-way notices, a short recorded message is enough. For reminders and feedback, a two-way AI agent gets answers: "already paid", "the bill is wrong", "I will pay on Friday". See AI voice agent vs IVR vs voice broadcast.
An example property tax reminder (Marathi-English, Hindi or any local language)
Namaskar {{name}} ji, main {{corporation}} ki taraf se ek automated call kar rahi hoon. Aapke ward {{ward}} ki property {{property_id}} ka property tax {{amount}} rupaye {{due_date}} tak due hai. Kya aap tab tak payment kar payenge? Main aapko payment link SMS par bhej sakti hoon.
- Already paid: "Dhanyavaad. Hum record update karwa denge."
- Amount looks wrong: "Main aapki shikayat note kar rahi hoon, ward office aapse sampark karega."
Write the script in the language your citizens use. For Marathi-speaking cities, a Marathi script with English numbers often sounds most natural. More examples in our Hindi AI calling scripts.
What the department gets back
Every call returns data, not just "delivered":
- Outcome: will pay, already paid, disputes amount, wrong number, not the owner
- Promised date
- Complaint or query captured in the citizen's words
- Recording and transcript of every call
Export the results by ward as CSV or to Google Sheets, or send them to the department's system through a webhook. Disputes and complaints can go straight to the ward office for follow-up.
Payment during the call
When the citizen agrees to pay, the agent sends the official payment link or the corporation's portal link by SMS or WhatsApp while they are still on the line. For reminders that follow a payment, see AI payment reminder calls.
How a civic calling programme is set up
- Get the list from the tax or billing database: phone, name, ward, property or consumer number, amount, due date, language.
- Write and approve the script with the department. Say who is calling and that it is automated.
- Set a calling window inside normal hours, for example 10:00-19:00.
- Pilot one ward for one cycle: listen to recordings, check pronunciation of names and ward numbers, and measure answer and payment rates.
- Scale ward by ward, with retries for unanswered numbers and a WhatsApp follow-up.
The 10,000-contact campaign playbook covers concurrency, retries and exports in detail.
Cost
On Edesy, calls are billed per started minute at Rs 4-6 per minute depending on the prepaid top-up, and unanswered calls are not charged. A reminder that is answered and finishes within a minute costs about Rs 4-6. For city-wide programmes, ask us about volume pricing.
Good practice for civic calls
- Identify the corporation and say the call is automated.
- Keep it short: one reason, one action.
- Call within reasonable hours and honour requests not to be called.
- Store citizen data securely and only for this purpose; see DPDP compliance for voice AI.
- Give a way to reach a person: the ward office number or a transfer.
Start with one ward
A one-ward pilot for one tax cycle is the fastest way to see the answer and collection rates for your city. Talk to us to plan it, or create a free account to hear a test call in your language.