Nod for GIS-based property mapping of cities

The Cabinet on Thursday approved rolling out a GIS-based property information system across urban local bodies.

Properties mapped on a GIS platform will help municipal authorities make property tax assessment simpler and prioritise areas on the basis of tax revenue collected or due - all this while making the process transparent.

“Now, many properties are not on record, be it legal or illegal. The last mapping of properties was done between 2005 and 2011, but it was not on a GIS platform,” urban development secretary (municipalities and urban development authorities) Anjum Parwez told DH.

“We will now take satellite maps and create pockets of properties. Then, a physical survey will be done where actual coordinates will be taken and corrected on the GIS map. Essentially, the whole city will come on a map and this will have multiple uses.”

Karnataka has 277 urban local bodies. In the first phase, GIS-based property information system will be rolled out in the municipal corporations of Belagavi, Davangere, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Tumakuru and Vijayapura. Ballari and Shivamogga have not been included due to the model code of conduct in force for the Lok Sabha byelection. Bengaluru, too, has been excluded as the BBMP is already using a GIS Enabled Property Tax Information System (GEPTIS) on which about 18.5 lakh properties have been mapped.