Why is BBMP digitising properties in Bengaluru? Will it help fill civic body coffers?

What is the digitisation drive of the BBMP?

This will be a door-to-door survey carried out by revenue department officials of the BBMP. A text message received by residents of C V Raman Nagar, which is part of Bengaluru East zone, read: “(sic) BBMP is creating digital property record for which BBMP staff will visit you in few days. Please keep copy of your property tax receipt and Bescom bill ready to hand over to them. This is very necessary to correctly digitise your property,” the message read.

According to officials, the digitisation drive is taken up on a campaign mode following directions from Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

How will the drive work?

Among the primary objectives of the drive is to digitise all property records at registrar offices of the city. Officials will visit all properties and capture their GPS coordinates, photos, number of floors in the building and other details, according to Munish Moudgil, special commissioner (revenue), BBMP. Adjoining buildings will be used to demarcate a particular property so that the exact dimensions of a property are recorded.

What is the progress of the drive?

The drive is being carried out in campaign mode across the city. Digitisation of all property documents of Yelahanka zone was complete, Moudgil said. Currently, documents of Bengaluru East and West zones are being digitised.

What is the duration of the digitisation drive?

Officials are confident that the drive will be completed in three months. The BBMP hopes to complete the digitisation process of properties in a few wards every week.

How will it benefit people?

At the end of the drive, details of ownership of all properties will be accessible online. “Anyone can access relevant details of a property online. Citizens will be able to access the entire database of properties in Bengaluru,” Moudgil said.

How will it help BBMP?

Armed with the data compiled during digitisation, officials say that they will have a better assessment of the properties in Bengaluru. For instance, if a person has five floors in a building and pays taxes for only three floors, the survey can help identify such structures and ensure that liable taxes are paid. This is expected to boost property tax generation as BBMP will have accurate details on the dimensions of all properties in the city.