BMC to make digital records of properties….Kunal Purohit
Going Tech Data to help assess property tax accurately, detect illegal constructions
Going Tech Data to help assess property tax accurately, detect illegal constructions
To help it calculate property tax better, the civic body is planning to create geolocation-mapped digital records of constructions in the city. The project envisages using high-speed digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras to develop a 360-degree map, which can also be used to detect illegal constructions.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has chosen N ward, comprising Ghatkopar and parts of Vikhroli, for the pilot project. It will be implemented by a private agency.
The primary aim of the exercise is to capture the external attributes of properties and plot them on a map with the help of geographic information system (GIS) coordinates.
This computerised data will ensure that external information about these properties is available to civic body officials at all times.
The BMC will use this data to verify the records it possesses of properties in the city and crosscheck them during the assessment of their property tax. For instance, the proposed system of capital value-based property tax, among other things, takes into consideration whether the building is “a luxurious building, a simple RCC building, or a kutcha structure”. This data will help determine that.
The information will be converted into a software by plotting it on a map with GIS coordinates, giving the geographical detail and additional information about the structure.
Additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Jalota confirmed the development, and said, “This is a pilot project to gauge if such technology can be effective in mapping properties externally and provide us these records for reference. If successful, this data will help us in calculating the property tax of properties in the city.”
Officials, however, believe that such records will help the civic body in more ways than tax assessment.
A civic official from the information technology department said, “This data can be also be used to keep a check on illegal constructions in the city. Once the new data is available, we can compare this data with the one that we have about these structures, making it easier to detect discrepancies between the two.”