The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : MCH set to go the whole hog

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Thursday, Feb 03, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

MCH set to go the whole hog

By V. Geetanath

HYDERABAD, FEB. 2. The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) is in for a new mode of administration if the plan for making extensive use of geographic information system (GIS) fructifies.

Its information technology wing is gearing to set up a geomatic cell now that an amount of Rs. 10 crores has been allocated.

Poring through voluminous records and physical monitoring of works can be a thing of the past once GIS is in place. "A map can only show a footprint but in GIS several other attributes can be shown. Available data can be spatially projected and depicted on computer screens for easy comprehension of policymakers," explains T. Vijay Kumar, Additional Commissioner (IT).

The MCH can enumerate property tax assessees, non-assessed properties, house owner, plot plinth area and location on a computer by clicking on the map. Similarly, road repairs on what stretch and extent of work done can be found out; glowing of streetlights, garbage collection and disposal, encroachments et al can be monitored online. Through this integration of non-spatial data to satellite maps, a complete analysis can be made for several activities. Though GIS application is still some time away, preliminary work was done recently after an American software company, ESRI, gave a grant of Rs. 25 lakhsfor utilising its ArcGIS software.

`Experimental' work was done on Ramakrishnanagar slum, near Durgabhai Deshmukh Colony, and results were encouraging. Officials can access the slum's population profile - (literates, jobs, family size, etc.,) slum history, available amenities, and listed action plan, etc., on the computer.

"There is an option for dynamic upgradation of the available data and even photographs," says Mr. Vijay Kumar. Field officials are to be equipped with personal data assessment (PDA) recorders for data to be fed, including photos. PDAs are to be synchronised with the main server in the head office by remote access so that `real time' position is available.

For instance, a defunct borewell or a construction stage for a new community hall or road carpeting-road cutting can be accessed sitting in the office. Using GIS, the corporation is said to have doubled its advertisement revenue to Rs. 11 crores, up from Rs. 6 crores.

It is also being planned to affix geographic positioning system (GPS) on garbage trucks to record their movements. Later, information is downloaded from the device for retracing all its movements, including halts. Household garbage collection points, composition, what can go for combustion and inert waste to the proposed landfill can be spatially projected.

"We want to evaluate all the properties that the MCH can do with GIS. We will go for a pilot project to devise a fool-proof methodology for field work and related issues," says the MCH Commissioner, Chitra Ramachandran.

To start with, the MCH has to access latest satellite city maps for digitisation, geo-referencing and projection. Field surveys have to be done for measuring plots, plinth areas, identification of water- sewer line, streetlights, etc. All this will take a little more than a year for GIS to be in place.

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