The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Corporation preparing digital property tax maps

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Corporation preparing digital property tax maps

Special Correspondent

Project uses satellite images to create the maps

Project launched in Medical College ward
Tax assessment, collection will
be easy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The property taxation system in the city corporation is all set to go hi-tech. A pilot project for property tax mapping has been launched in the Medical College ward under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-assisted Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project.

The digital maps prepared under the project are expected to make tax assessment and collection simpler and more transparent for the corporation. Periodic tax re-assessment will also be made easier. The project uses satellite images with GIS (Geographical Information System) technology and GPS (Global Positioning System) to create the maps.

The pilot project took off with a model survey in the Medical College ward. Special squads were deployed to collect data from houses and institutions. The data generated by the field survey will be integrated with the maps to create a database of all the houses in the ward..

According to the KSUDP project director Anand Singh, the mapping and data collection would help to update the property tax details available with the corporation. “It is expected to bring in transparency and provide citizens an opportunity to view and modify the documents relating to their buildings.”

State-level project

The mapping programme is part of a State-wide project covering the five municipal corporations. Ten lakh properties are to be mapped in the five cities. The Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) has already prepared base maps for the project cities. Based on satellite images, the maps feature geographical and urban land use data. High-resolution data from the QuickBird remote sensing satellite was procured through the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.

A technical support unit comprising GIS experts has been established at the KSUDP headquarters here for the mapping programme.

In the next phase of the project, the GIS maps will be extended to cover water supply and sewer systems, garbage collection, streetlight network, public roads and other infrastructure facilities. The digital maps will play a major role in urban management in future.

Data completion

Officials said the survey teams for the pilot project in the Medical College ward could not complete the data collection exercise because some of the houses were locked or the owners absent. They have sought the help of property owners to complete the details.

The data collected on each property has been posted on the Web site of both the KSUDP ( www.ksudp.org) and the city corporation (www. corporationoftrivandrum.in)

Property owners are directed to use appropriate search keys like owner’s name or house number to view the data about their property and furnish the details. They can download the format provided in the Web sites, both in Malayalam and English.

In case of difficulty in filling up the format, they can contact any of the following phone numbers: Sibi Paul: 9995976953 or the Project Implementation Unit: 994687934, 2327012 or 2331570.

Residents who do not have access to Internet can avail themselves of the forms from the PIU office.

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