Property ID Saga – Building Transparency into Bengaluru
The mark of a great city isn’t how it treats its special places, but how it treats its ordinary ones. Urbanisation is an inevitable process, at the same time desirable too. But with urban development, newer challenges begin to surface and it is the primary responsibility of any city corporation to address these challenges.
As a kid growing up in Bangalore of the 1970’s, I never imagined the calm pensioner’s paradise to transform itself into the bustling vibrant city that it has become today. But the unplanned growth in the disguise of urbanisation made way for a number of palpable issues and my city was no longer the same.
Even though my passion for social service goes back a long way, the new challenges that confronted this city drove me into politics and there began my journey as a corporator. As a bridge between the general public and the MLA, I strive to address the basic concerns of the people of my ward and at the same time dedicate a substantial amount of time in finding solutions to the larger issues of the city.
As a vocal advocate of decentralisation of powers, I have always believed that a city municipal corporation can bring about tangible differences in the lives of people only when it is able to generate higher revenues year after year. So as a first term corporator in the year 2011, it took me no long to realise that the revenue generated by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) was not adequate to meet the needs of the growing population in Bengaluru.The BBMP budget at the time was a sorry saga of unrealised aspirations and overblown expectations.
Good intentions and intent can help you go a long way. In the year 2011, I became a member of BBMP Committee for Taxation and Finance and subsequently its Chairman, and as our first task we looked into all possible avenues to increase the civic body’s revenue. It was baffling to discover that the procedures for fixation and collection of the single largest tax handle, property tax, was mired in irregular administrative practices and followed a manual self-assessment mechanism that was inefficient and hardly accountable.
Only about 8 lakh properties were under the tax net of BBMP and so I was naturally perplexed when my curiosity led me into the BESCOM data, it suggested that 20 lakh electricity connections were provided and BWSSB data indicated that 17 lakh water supply connections were provided to the properties in the city. The direct impact of inefficiency was on the honest taxpayers who suffered standing in long queues whereas most others found ways to evade paying property tax. It was not uncommon to see people having similar sized plots paying varying amounts to BBMP and a considerable number of sites rented for commercial purposes being registered as residential use/self use properties.The administration could not be in a more cluttered state.
They say necessity is the mother of all inventions and this is when a Geographic Information System (GIS) based Property Identification (PID) number was envisaged by me and subsequently rolled out. As I write this reminiscing those times, my heart fondly remembers the then IT advisor, Late Mr. Sheshadri who was instrumental in the making of this monumental scheme. Through this distinctive, one of a kind exercise, a combination of ward number -street number -plot number structure was followed and therefore every single plot within the civic body limits was assigned a unique property identification number. Taking risks has always encouraged me and as they say if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit, and the results were here to see.
In a matter of few months, the total properties under tax net doubled to nearly 16lakh and the revenue generated from the property tax handle quadrupled from a paltry sum of 450 crores collected the previous financial year and the fact that BBMP estimates suggest a possible 4000cr collection for the year 2021-2022 is a testimony for the ever increasing relevance of the PID system. The first such exercise in the country’s history has been consistently giving higher revenues without burdening the citizens with increased tax rates. The then deputy chairman of planning commission, also a world renowned economist, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was not only all praise for the system but also recommended the same for all the municipal corporations in India. The World e-governments Organisation of Cities and Local Governments(WeGO) awards that promotes smart initiatives that use ICT to improve the quality of life of citizens recognised the PID system project and this illustrious award was bestowed on the Bangalore city corporation making each one of us beam with pride.
The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today and good work always has a snowball effect leading on to better things. The beneficial effects of the well-oiled PID system are all pervasive and the ineffecient management that BBMP was characterised to be is a distant past. The unique Road History system follows the same principle as PID. By identifying each road on the basis of a definite numbering system linked to the unique ward and inter ward street numbers, duplication is avoided.
This way, vested interests cannot generate work and purchasing orders for developing a road the second time and therefore double billing and duplication by contractors is a thing of the past.
The PID mapping has also made it easy for anyone to trace the length of Optical Fibre Cable(OFC) laid in a particular part of the city and has also been generating around 250cr revenue annually to the corporation.
Clean water, the essence of life and a birthright for everyone must be available to all people and therefore it disheartened me when the data suggested that a considerable section of the city’s property owners evaded paying water tax and as a consequence of which the needy were left without tap water connections. Over the years, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage board(BWSSB) has superimposed unique PID numbers with water meters and has achieved near universal coverage. This has also increased its revenue by imposing tax on sewerage lines as well regularising unauthorised tap connections in the city.
There’s no greater challenge and there is no greater honor than to be in public service. I am conscious of this fastest growing city’s potential and the large scope that it provides for service and therefore I intend to provide
genuine service with utmost sincerity and integrity which cannot be bought or measured with money.
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About PID in the media:
Indian Express: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2012/oct/13/palikes-pid-system-bags-e-governance-award–414770.html
News 18: https://www.news18.com/news/india/bwssb-to-use-pids-to-increase-revenue-479833.html
Deccan Herald: https://www.deccanherald.com/content/429528/why-tar-good-road.html
Musings
Liveability, quality of life, ease of living, Bengaluru for all, remuneration and livelihood opportunities, assured services at affordable prices, safe secure efficient accessible affordable mobility, walkable streets, access to metro and bus, special fares for women, Services water supply, drainage, solid waste streets electricity, transport, Revenue mobilization – increase it by coverage and efficient collection, reduce wasteful expenditure and not add additional burden, Transparency in governance, Energy uses and emissions, inventions in renewable sources on a larger scale, Green city initiatives.
Bengaluru
Namma uru
safe city
secure city
healthy city
city of opportunity
green city
future city
Green city
blue city
Education city
Children are our future
Liveability index
natural resources
development
enhanced quality of life
education
Bangalore A Future Ready City