Legislators and people can directly inform the state government of issues related to bad roads or drinking water problems through WhatsApp, state PWD minister Pulak Roy announced in the Assembly on Wednesday after launching three dedicated numbers.

“We have introduced three dedicated numbers. I will request all the members of the House to report about bad roads or demand new roads on WhatsApp at 9088822111 — a dedicated number monitored by the PWD officials. You can also report any queries or complaints regarding drinking water at 8902022222 and 8902066666 as these two numbers would be monitored by the PHE officials,” Pulak Roy, who is the minister for both public works and public health engineering departments, said.

Roy announced the government’s new initiative after BJP MLA from Dabgram-Fulabri, Sikha Chatterjee alleged that a drinking water project did not come up on an earmarked plot even after repeated communication with the local administration.

“If you give me the papers that the local administration was informed with proper land documents, I can ensure that the project will come up within a month,” Roy said before urging all MLAs in the Assembly to use those three WhatsApp numbers and work for people of their area.

A source in the state government said the launching of three numbers was part of the state government’s policy to connect with the people at the grassroots directly with the state government to know what they actually need.

“Our chief minister introduced Sarasari Mukhyomantri (Direct to chief minister) — a telephone number that anyone from any corner of the state can use to flag their demands or complaints. As road and water are considered essential requirements of people, these three dedicated WhatsApp numbers were launched. In the near future, the government plans to launch separate numbers for other departments, too,” said a senior government official.

A Trinamul leader said the move to offer people direct contact with the state secretariat was politically significant as the government also wanted to know details of demands for roads and drinking water.