E-Governance

Corporation to bring Mayor’s chamber under CCTV coverage

Saturday, 08 April 2017 00:00 administrator

The New Indian Express 08.04.2017

Corporation to bring Mayor’s chamber under CCTV coverage

KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation is planning to extend CCTV coverage to the Mayor’s chamber, in the wake of the recent incident wherein Mayor Soumini Jain was verbally abused by director Jude Anthany Joseph.

The director had verbally abused the Mayor during a visit to the Corporation office seeking sanction for shooting a film at Subhash Park.

“Currently, the Mayor’s chamber is not under CCTV surveillance. The recent incident has forced us to extend CCTV coverage to the Mayor’s chamber. An earlier proposal to install CCTV cameras in the Mayor’s chamber was dropped,” said sources in the Corporation.

“At present, CCTV surveillance is restricted to the courtyard of the Corporation building. We will soon hold discussions with service providers to install CCTV cameras in the Mayor’s cabin,” said a Corporation officer.

“Anyone can enter my office any time, and there is no restriction on the public to meet me. This is the first time such an incident is happening in my office. There is no secrecy in the Corporation office and everything is open to the public,” said the Mayor. Meanwhile, the Mayor lashed out at Jude Anthany for his Facebook post against her.

The Mayor in her Facebook post said it was an irony the director who misbehaved with a woman had come up with the noble intention of making a film on child sexual abuse. “He can express his social commitment by making the film, but before that he should change his arrogant attitude towards women. Every individual should be subjected to reformation to ensure the overall refinement of society,” reads the post.

The Mayor said the Facebook post was intended to support women in general, who face abuse at home, in public places and at workplace.

“Dear Jude, I too am worried about the recent atrocities against women and children. Your intention to make a film on the subject is good, but your abusive words against a woman in front of the staff will not send out a good message. You used such abusive words against me, because I am a woman,” reads the post.

Soon, your property will have a 10-digit geo-referenced number

Monday, 27 March 2017 08:03 administrator

The Hindu 27.03.2017

Soon, your property will have a 10-digit geo-referenced number

It will replace the existing PIDs; it can effectively act as your address too

By this year-end, your property will have a 10-digit unique number. This unique number, which will be geo-referenced with the latitude and longitude information of the property, can effectively act as your address too. This number will replace your existing Property Identification (PID) number, which is not geo-referenced.

The civic body will start issuing these unique numbers soon after its GIS-enabled Property Tax Information System is mounted on the Bhuvan platform of Indian Space Research Organisation, work on which will begin from April 1, said M.K. Gunashekhar, chairman, standing committee on taxation and finance, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. The BBMP’s budget had a mention of the project.

Unscientific numbering

The PID system is in a mess owing to unscientific numbering being followed, said a senior BBMP official. The PID system includes the ward number, street number and door number of the property, all of which can often change. Ward delimitation exercise will render all existing PIDs erroneous, leading to issuing of new PIDs.

There are already two sets of PIDs — those issued before and after 2008, when the BBMP was formed. Moreover, the PID database is unlinked to the GIS database, khata, plan sanction, Bescom or BWSSB databases.

Assigning new numbers was recommended by the BBMP Restructuring Committee. The 10-digit system will give scope for assigning numbers to 100 lakh properties, a far cry from today’s estimated 25 lakh properties in the city.

“In Singapore, the geo-referenced unique property number acts as your address. For instance, you can provide the number of your destination to a cab driver who will track it on the map. The unique number can enable this in Bengaluru too,” said V. Ravichandar, member of the committee.

The 10-digit system will be error-proof and the system would not accept a wrong PID which may lead to tax payment to another account. The 10th digit will be derived through an algorithm applied on the first nine digits. Thus a wrong number in the 10th digit, will immediately flag an error, sources said.

Tax compliance

A geo-referenced PID that is integrated with other datasets of the properties such as ownership and encumbarance documents, khata, plan approval, tax receipts, utility services, is expected to lead to increased tax compliance in the city, said Mr. Ravichandar.

The recent GIS mapping has recognised around 19 lakh properties, of which only 16 lakh to 17 lakh properties have been in the tax net, indicating that the city has not been leveraging its potential tax base.

“Technology will help us cross-verify self-assessment by property owners and detect under-reporting,” Mr. Gunashekhar said.

Logo design competition

Wednesday, 01 March 2017 11:54 administrator

The Hindu 01.03.2017

Logo design competition

Winning logo for Gurugram authority to get Rs. 1 lakh

In the run-up to the constitution of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), suggestions have been invited from citizens for its logo design. The winning design will receive a prize money of Rs. 1 lakh.

The logos can be submitted till March 4. Five short-listed designs will be announced on March 11 and the winner will be declared on April 1 by the Chief Executive Officer of GMDA .

Announcing this, GMDA Officer Special Duty V. Umashankar said he has written to schools and residents’ welfare associations asking them to hold logo design competitions and send two short-listed designs to the authorities via email.

‘Aspirational character’

Mr. Umashankar said, “The logo for the GMDA should reflect the aspirational character of Gurugram. The design may reflect the desire to stitch the citizens and institutions together for governance.”

Individuals can log on to the GMDA website to submit their logo designs.

The GMDA is being constituted to oversee the overall infrastructural development and raise the standards of governance and living in Gurugram in light of the rapid growth of the city — both commercially and population wise. This authority is expected to come into existence on April 1, 2017.

Governance survey: Bengaluru ranks 16 among 21 cities

Wednesday, 01 March 2017 11:10 administrator

The Hindu 01.03.2017

Governance survey: Bengaluru ranks 16 among 21 cities

Slips four positions compared to the previous year

Patna, Kanpur, Lucknow and Ranchi are ahead of the ‘IT capital’ of the country, in a survey, as far as quality of governance is concerned. Bengaluru is ranked a lowly 16th among 21 cities.

In fact, Bengaluru slipped four positions compared to the previous year in the Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS), conducted by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.

This was attributed to improvements in scores of smaller cities, such as Bhubaneswar (which jumped eight ranks to 10th place), Ahmedabad, Raipur and Ranchi. Thiruvananthapuram retained its number one position in 2016.

The not-for-profit organisation, which revealed the findings of the fourth edition of the survey on Tuesday, said Bengaluru is not adequately equipped to manage urbanisation as there are several ‘systemic inadequacies’ that could affect public service delivery.

Notably, all the Indian cities surveyed fared poorly on the 82 parameters, scoring between 2.1 and 4.4 on a scale of 10, against the global benchmarks set by London (9.3) and New York 9.8.

MC to e-auction parking sites on Sept 7

Friday, 02 September 2016 06:14 administrator

The Times of India Ludhiana 02.09.2016

MC to e-auction parking sites on Sept 7

Ludhiana: The municipal corporation would organize e-auctioning for seven new parking areas on September 7. The bidders would participate on the internet following which the sites would be allotted to the qualifying contractor. The e-auction is being organized for parking sites including Sidhwan Canal till Ferozepur Road Octroi Post (reserve price of Rs 5 lakh), Model Town extension market (reserve price of Rs 5 lakh), Orient Cinema opposite BRS Nagar police station (reserve price of Rs 5 lakh), Jagraon bridge to Sherpur chowk (reserve price of Rs 10 lakh), Bhadhaur house opposite AC market, below Lakkar bridge and old GT Road below central bridge, and Kapoor Hospital to Rekhi Cinema Chowk with a reserve price of Rs 10 lakh, Mall road (reserve price of Rs 7 lakh) and below Gill Chowk bridge opposite Rishi Dhaba with a reserve price of Rs 2 lakh.

According to officials, when they floated tenders for starting the procedure. 12 contractors had come forward but after technical evaluation, two were rejected and now, the remaining 10 contractors would participate. MC commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said that new parking sites will be allotted through e-auction on September 7 and these contractors will also have to address procedures like e-ticketing and detailed printed tickets to avoid over-charging. MC had earlier postponed the auction three times.

Last Updated on Friday, 02 September 2016 06:16

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