Evading property tax in Delhi could soon be a thing of the past. In first-of-its-kind initiative, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) is set to begin technology-driven method of surveying properties with their built-up area within its jurisdiction. The technology will use infrared rays and roadometers to measure the area of a particular property as also calculate the exact number of buildings. This will minimise the possibility of evading tax as all properties will come under the tax net. Officials said the pilot project has been successful and the work will be awarded by this month-end.
Senior officials said the bidding process is on to hire a private agency for conducting the survey. Two companies namely Data World and Navyug participated in the pilot project wherein they successfully surveyed nearly a hundred properties at three locations that included Baljeet Nagar, an unauthorised colony; Gujranwala Town, a planed colony and the North Delhi Corporation’s office located in Civil lines.
“The bidding process is nearing completion. We shall be able to award the work by this month end. The agency will have to survey all properties within a period of 18 months,” said MSA Khan, Assessor and Collector of North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
It will be a door-to-door survey and the private agency will measure the area of the plot on the spot and calculate the tax amount. Further, in order to bring maximum number of properties in the tax net, the corporation will be issuing a unique property identification code (UPIC) to each property under the jurisdiction of North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The move aims at augmenting the revenue without increasing the existing tax rate or imposing any new tax. As per the plan, the surveyors will be equipped with a hand-held device that will map and measure the buildings and on the basis of its size and other factors, print out a bill on the spot. The corporation will be spending Rs 10 crore for surveying the properties so that each property can be given the unique property identification code.
Officials said the hand-held devices will be GPS-enabled so that the data captured from it can also be transferred on real times basis to the property tax server at the data centre of the corporation. According to officials, the unique identification code would help in digitising the record of the properties in North Delhi areas.
The UPIC of a particular property shall be used for paying tax and dues, seeking any licence or permission for any service and for all official purposes. As per the figures available with the municipal corporations, an estimated 40 lakh properties exist in the Capital but only 10 lakh properties are assessed for property tax in the absence of proper data. Similarly, there are around 9 lakh properties in North Delhi areas but only 3.7 lakh property owners pay the tax.