BMC Uses Laser Technology To Track Illegal Construction; Looks At Rs 500 Cr Additional Property Tax

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will now adopt technology to put a stop to illegal construction across the city. The civic body recently conducted a survey using the 360-degree Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology. Under this survey, over 33,000 property alterations were detected across the city, wherein the buildings constructed had diverted from the original plan and additional area was being used for this purpose.

LiDAR project was announced in 2017 at a cost of Rs 12 crore to track any changes being made to buildings. The technology allowed the BMC to collect data by using various methods, including video-recordings, measuring the length, breadth and height of properties and roads on which they stand.

Using this technology, the BMC surveyed over 2.61 lakh properties of the 3.39 lakh buildings covered under the assessment and collection department. The alterations data collected will now be scanned by the civic body to ascertain whether or not these changes have been legally notified and approved. The unique 15-digit number given to each building will be used to check the legality of these changes.

Following this, the second phase of the survey will begin, wherein the BMC will send out notices to property owners and impose an additional property tax, in case the alterations made are found to be illegal. With this, the BMC aims to generate Rs 500 crore additional property tax if all these alterations turn out to be illegal. The BMC on an average collects Rs 5,000 crore as property tax, annually.