Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) is smartening up and how, at least virtually.

Its existing website will get a user-friendly and attractive makeover before mid-October, the IT cell of the civic body has said.

Among the new features of the website www.ranchimunicipal.com under construction now are links to the municipal corporation's Twitter and Facebook for residents to directly key in their complaints and suggestions.

Though the site is under construction, its sleek new homepage is already up with eight smart logos and a quick links column.

A picture gallery, segments on town planning, Ranchi master plan 2037, swachh initiatives, e-rickshaws and Prime Minister's housing scheme have been introduced in the upcoming website being developed by the IT cell of the RMC.

Right now, among the segments to be updated are contact details of over 100 officials and councillors of RMC.

The old RMC website was both dull and inefficient, with frequent server errors, residents had often complained.

Promising to be interactive and informative, the new website is the result of research over three months into municipal websites of Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and others.

'Our original website was neither up to date nor up to the mark. It provides sketchy information on Ranchi as it lacks many segments. Plus, it is not attractive,' admitted RMC commissioner Shantanu Kumar Agrahari. 'That's why a need was felt for an urgent revamp, which we are doing.'

Agrahari promised the new website would reflect the modern profile of the RMC, whose 'roles and responsibilities have increased manifold '. He promised technical snags would be a matter of the past.

Promising 'real accessibility', he gave an instance. 'In the town planning segment, we have a window for online application and registration for building construction.'

Phone and mobile numbers of RMC authorities will be uploaded very soon, he added.

Already, users are delighted. 'The new homepage looks attractive and to-the-point. I can click the icon I need instead of wasting time. I hope they finish the work fast and upload phone contacts,' Arun Kumar Mishra, a resident of Kanke Road, said.