Eyeing more tax, BBMP to capture property GPS coordinates

Bengaluru: In a first-of-its-kind exercise, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will undertake a door-to-door survey to independently capture GPS coordinates of about 20 lakh properties in the city. 

The survey has been proposed to enhance property tax collection as well as enable officials to identify properties that are not part of its tax net.

The civic body — which hopes to complete the drive in six months — has enlisted services of close to 200 people to help its revenue staff numbering 150. What’s more, the BBMP has also developed a mobile application to feed the data. 

The special drive proposes to link the property identification number (PID) with the image of the property by assigning the latitude and longitude coordinates. During the visit, the BBMP staff may ask for the tax paid receipt as well as the electricity bill. Officials said no other documents including sale deed will be sought.

“Mapping of all properties is a critical exercise to identify property tax evaders,” a senior BBMP official said. “At the moment, all we have is a PID number but that is not enough to locate the property. This is also the reason why the BBMP has been failing in enforcement. Once the geo coordinates are ready, we will form a team to analyse the data by making use of street view, satellite images etc.” 

Last November, BBMP had announced such a survey to digitise property tax related records. It had also sent SMSes to many property owners, seeking their cooperation. The civic body, however, abandoned its plan after revenue officials complained that they are overburdened with Lok Sabha poll related work. Subsequently, officials decided to form an independent team for the job. 

Also, the BBMP had initially made it mandatory for residents to provide latitude-longitude coordinates of their properties while paying the property tax in 2024-25. Officials decided to withdraw the feature after many owners struggled to enter the figures which were key to making the payments. The feature is now optional. 

Bengaluru’s municipal corporation is not the first city to seek geo-coordinates of properties. Earlier this year, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) launched a similar exercise where it offered a 10% rebate for citizens who provide latitude-longitude details. 

In Bengaluru, the civic body — which has set a target of collecting Rs 5,200 crore revenue by end of this fiscal year — believes that about five lakh properties are out of its tax bracket. Many stakeholders say the BBMP has a potential to increase the revenue by two to three times more than what it is currently collecting.