Unique building IDs to help check tax evasion in Shimla
Shimla, July 23
To label buildings in the town with unique IDs with a purpose to check the property tax evasion, the Shimla Municipal Corporation has started a door-to-door survey in five wards — Chhota Shimla, Kasumpti, Vikasnagar, Kanganadhar and Panthaghati.
According to the Municipal Corporation, there are many building owners in the town, who have not provided exact information about their buildings and are not paying property tax. To crackdown on such offenders, the civic body has handed over the work to a private company, which is conducting the survey across the town.
Earlier, the corporation had conducted a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping survey by a drone in these wards. During the survey, pictures of buildings were clicked with high-resolution drone cameras.
Shimla Municipal Corporation Commissioner Bhupinder Attri said the MC had started a survey to identify all the buildings in the town. He said the survey was being conducted in two stages — drone survey and door-to-door exercise. “At present, the door-to-door survey is underway, while the drone GIS mapping survey has already been conducted. The GIS mapping survey will be conducted in the remaining wards as soon as the sky clears,” said Attri.
He said the MC had set a target to complete the survey by October. After the completion of the survey, the data will be uploaded manually on e-Sampatti portal. The data will be then made compatible with UPYOG portal, which is a national reference platform created for the delivery of municipal services online.
After the completion of the survey, the civic body will issue a unique ID to each building in the town. Through the unique ID, services like payment of property tax, water supply bills, sewerage bills and applying for trade licence will be provided on one application.
