Hyderabad: In a move aimed at making land transactions less of a headache, the Telangana government has rolled out ‘Bhu Mitra,’ a chatbot on the Bhu Bharati portal. This digital assistant is designed to help users navigate questions around buying, selling, and registering land, and it can respond in four languages: Telugu, English, Hindi, and Urdu.
Built in just two months by the Projects Lab at IIIT Hyderabad, Bhu Mitra chatbot is meant to clear up doubts on the spot, delivering instant answers on-screen. “We’re also working on adding audio responses, so it’s even more accessible,” said Y. Prakash, who heads the lab.
The Bhu Bharati portal was launched as a one-stop shop for land services, featuring secure IT systems and solid firewalls. But even with its initial pilot run across a few mandals, officials soon discovered that users were struggling to get their questions answered. That’s when the government decided to bring in a chatbot to bridge the gap.
Revenue officials turned to the team at IIIT Hyderabad’s Projects Lab, which took on the challenge of building the new software. Researchers gathered everything they could from revenue staff—details on land, registration procedures, survey numbers, and even the list of prohibited lands. All of that laid the foundation for a robust system.
To make sure the chatbot could handle real-world queries, the team also hit the field, visiting pilot villages to talk to farmers and local officials. Those conversations shaped the chatbot’s first version, which was put together by applied research engineer Akhila Srimanas.
The result is a chatbot that can talk back in the user’s preferred language, making it easier for everyone to access information. Akhila says further improvements will be rolled out by mid-August to make the experience even smoother.
This latest tech push by the state government is part of a bigger effort to make land dealings more transparent—and, in the process, put more power in the hands of users.
