Ward-wise tax collection data a click away

From Saturday, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has started publishing ward-wise property tax collection details on its website.

The civic body has uploaded the data on property tax collected from April 2016 to January 2019 from all the 198 wards on the portal. 

Taking the ward committee meetings to the next level, the BBMP Commissioner also directed officials to publicise the property tax collection details from each ward during the ward meetings.

Setting an example, the Commissioner himself has taken the initiative in his ward, Sanjaynagar.

“I instructed my officers to make available ward-wise property tax collection details and also a list of all projects sanctioned by the BBMP for the last three years on the BBMP website,” BBMP Commissioner, N Manjunath Prasad said.

The civic agency has also uploaded the details of the various projects undertaken in the wards from April 1, 2016 to January 31, 2019.

“It’s first time in the BBMP’s history, ward-wise details of projects and tax collection data are made available to the public,” added Prasad. 

Earlier, the not-for-profit, Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) had requested the Mayor, Gangambike Mallikarjun and the BBMP Commissioner to leverage ward committees to go beyond just grievance redressal and monitoring, and further look at ward-level planning and budgetary exercises.

In November 2018, the CfB had also conducted a round table, where the BBMP commissioner said he expects the ward committees to become forums for transparency and planning.

He had also said that the ward committee minutes will be posted on the website within two months.

“This is truly a new chapter in urban governance and we are sure active citizens will use this information to better monitor ward works and better govern themselves. When citizens go beyond complaining and take ownership of their own wards, things will change dramatically,” Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of CfB told DH.