The civic body is counting on spatial technology from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to fill its coffers.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has roped in ISRO to start the exercise — which has been on the cards for years — to identify new development areas on the outskirts and buildings that have come up on vacant sites, both of which are not part of the tax net, as well as identify additional development or under-reporting of buildings that are part of the tax net.
The Regional Remote Sensing Centre, South, Bengaluru is spearheading the project following an MoU signed in 2017. This will help BBMP collect property tax true to its potential, officials said.
The BBMP has come under severe criticism for realising only a fraction of the potential property tax collection. For instance, the Economic Survey 2016-17 of the Union Finance Ministry said Bengaluru and Jaipur were only collecting 5% – 20% of their potential property tax.
A pilot study conducted by BBMP Restructuring Committee in three wards — Arakere, Hoodi and Byatarayanapura — in 2016-17 revealed that tax realisation was only 40% of its potential, which if realised fully could help the civic body generate ₹3,000 crore more every year.
“Work on the project has already begun. A pilot implemented in Yelachenahalli ward (no. 185) has been successful in identifying three kinds of gaps in the tax net,” said Manoj Rajan, Special Commissioner, Finance, BBMP. “Ortho corrections of maps, defining road grids and other properties with better granularity is under way. In three months, we will implement the project in two wards for each zone before expanding it across the city. By the end of the 2018-19 financial year, we will complete mapping the entire city,” he said.
The latest satellite images from the LISS-IV and Cartosat-1 data — the technology being adopted — with one-metre spatial resolution is being used as a base map for the exercise. On this base map, BBMP's GIS database of properties and road grids will be superimposed, he explained. This exercise of superimposition will generate ward-wise reports of new development areas and buildings that have come up on vacant sites, but are not yet part of the tax net.
ISRO will deploy shadow technology to estimate the height of each of these buildings, which will help identify any additional development of buildings already part of the tax net. “Reports of the findings will be available ward-wise, helping us shore up tax collection. The superimposed map will be available on a mobile app to help ward-level officials track the difference, and raise tax demands,” he said.
V. Ravichandar, former member of BBMP Restructuring Committee, who led the property tax study by the committee, said shoring up tax collection also requires administrative restructuring within the BBMP. “Presently, the revenue department sets the property tax and is also tasked with collecting tax. Most times, officials are hand-in-glove with property owners in suppressing development. A separate arm of the civic body must assess the tax potential of a ward and set the target which the revenue department needs to meet,” he argued.
Duplication of work?
BBMP's exercise has come under criticism for possible duplication of work. The Department of Land Survey and Settlement is also carrying out spatial survey of properties, starting with a ward in Jayanagar for a pilot, to implement the much delayed Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR).
Meanwhile, the BDA has a one-metre spatial resolution base map for its Draft Revised Master Plan – 2031.
V. Ravichandar, former member of the BBMP Restructuring Committee, said that various agencies must co-ordinate and work on a single base map for the city, or else there would be duplication of work.
Third party audit?
The BBMP is mulling over a third-party audit of all properties in Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli zones after several pilot studies indicating the collection of property tax in these two zones especially is lowest compared to their potential.
“Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli are two of the fastest growing outer zones in the city that have reported several cases of under-assessment or properties not in the tax net yet. A complete third-party audit will help us collect tax in tune with the region's potential,” said Mayor R. Sampath Raj.
A third-party audit of tech parks, malls and large apartments — named Total Station Survey — had discovered under-assessment to the tune of ₹250 crore in 2017.
