The Digital Door Number (DDN) initiative of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, which is supposed to replace the lengthy addresses of properties and households with a unique code, is yet to take off in the city.
Since mid-2015, the civic body in association with Zippr, the company behind the DDN technology, began issuing the unique identification codes to every individual property in the city. The unique code starting with ‘VMC’ comprises the GPS location of the property, property’s photo, owner’s name, and postal address. The code makes the exchange of addresses easy and helps denizens while sharing location with services such as 108, door delivery and others.
Taking the initiative a step ahead, the then Municipal Commissioner G. Veerapandian made plans to incorporate the Zippr code officially as DDN into the database of the civic body so that users just produce the DDN at the time of payment of taxes as well as availing themselves of municipal services and others. In a major campaign, several DDN teams have visited door to door and issued DDNs to every house, business establishment and others in the city. Almost all the properties in the city have the DDN papers, which are apparently fading out, affixed to their gates and main doors more than a year ago, but civic body is yet to formalise the DDN initiative.
Revenue model
Apart from making addresses easy, the civic body also aimed at the generation of revenue with the initiative touted as first of its kind in the country. Every time a user uses the unique code to search an address, the civic body gets 10 paise. When contacted, an official of town planning wing said that issuance of DDNs to all properties in the city was done and necessary arrangements are being made to formalise it.
People can use http://zip.pr/vjy/ or Zippr smartphone application to check DDNs and also share their DDN with friends and family when in need. Also, one can create one’s own code irrespective of the VMC’s DDN and use it by directly visiting Zippr website or app.
