The E-Swathu scheme which gives better clarity on the ownership of the property in rural areas will now be introduced in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits as well.
At a meeting on Tuesday, BBMP Administrative Officer T M Vijay Bhaskar instructed the Palike’s as well as the National Informatics Centre (NIC) officials to prepare grounds for introducing web-based E-Swathu using the E-Vinyasa software to protect the interests of prospective property buyers. During the meeting, Commissioner G Kumar Naik was also present.
E-Swathu is already in place in rural areas and seven local planning authorities of Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA), Anekal, Kanakapura, Magadi, Nelamangala, BIAAPA and Hoskote. However, this has not been implemented in Bengaluru where the property related forgery is more. Under the E-Swathu, property owner gets E-Khatha.
As the Additional Chief Secretary to the Rural Development and Panchayath Raj (RDPR) Department, Vijay Bhaskar had taken the initiative to introduce E-Swathu following complaints about forgery in the land transactions, especially regarding the registration of sites in illegal layouts.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Vijay Bhaskar said the initiative is as per the Karnataka High Court order. He said, “The High Court has directed the government to provide an online registration system in BBMP to check registration of properties in unauthorised layout. Already the system is in place in rural areas.”
A detailed discussion with the NIC officials will take place in the coming days for the implementation of this scheme in Bengaluru. This will do away with illegal properties in the City.
It was also decided in the meeting that all information about the public works, such as the estimated cost, commencement, deadline, name of the contractor and other details will be put up on the BBMP website for everyone to see to maintain transparency.
It was also decided that before making payments, all the works which have been sanctioned and not yet started will be reviewed and the Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) will check the quality of the work.To augment the revenue, it was decided that betterment charges will be collected shortly.
To increase the property tax collection, teams will be formed to verify major properties which are suspected to be paying less taxes.