Eye in the sky: GIS mapping to help curb property tax evasion

SHIMLA, February 12

The Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) is conducting a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of the town to collect data of all properties in order to identify property tax offenders. The mapping has been going on for the past one month. Under the exercise, pictures of residential areas are being clicked with a high-resolution drone having 3-cm resolution.

There are more than 30,000 houses in the town and many residents have not provided the correct information regarding their dwelling units. The corporation has started this initiative to identify such people and to collect the details of properties, nullahs and drains across the town. As of now, the mapping is being conducted in Krishna Nagar ward of the town. It will be conducted across the town in the next one month.

Crackdown on defaulters

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• GIS facilitates comprehensive mapping and analysis by linking geographical data with descriptive information.
• There are over 30,000 houses in Shimla and many residents have not provided correct information regarding their dwelling units.
• Shimla MC is creating database by gathering information of properties through GIS mapping.
• This will help identify illegal constructions across the town, besides bringing to light misrepresented properties.

SMC Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Attri said at present, the SMC is creating database by gathering information through GIS mapping. He said after gathering the data, a door-to-door inquiry of the properties will be done by the officials.

“A unique ID will be issued to the owners. Earlier, the properties were self-declared but now owners will be provided with unique IDs. This database will also help the corporation to identify illegal constructions across the town,” he said. Talking to The Tribune, SMC Mayor Surinder Chauhan said, “It has come to our notice that there are many people in the town who have misrepresented their properties. For example, there are many people who have shown that they have a two-storey house in the town while in reality it is a three-storey building. With the GIS mapping we will identify such people which will help us in finding out about the persons who are misrepresenting their properties.”