HYDERABAD: The
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has drawn plans to keep a
check against unscrupulous elements applying for building permissions
online on encroached government lands with the help of geotagging.

The
move is designed to protect water bodies and lands related to
endowment, Wakf and urban land ceiling. GHMC will geotag the details of
all the government lands in the twin cities with the help of Hyderabad
district administration to have a clear idea about the ownership of the
lands under GHMC. Rangareddy and Medchal districts have already
geotagged all revenue land records data pertaining to their districts.

The
main idea is that if persons, who apply for building permission online
for government lands or in Full Tank Level (FTL) of water bodies, they
can be caught when he files the survey numbers.

If
the survey number matches with that of government land data geotagged
in the system, they will get rejected. Geotagging would put an end to
manual applications and having to attend offices. GHMC said that the
move would stop land sharks. Land sharks would submit fake documents and
bribes to town planning section had obtained building permissions on
 government lands.

Since
Oct 2016, GHMC has stopped accepting manual applications both for
buildings and has put in place Online Building Approval System (DPMS).
But separate data on lands concerned has not been uploaded or geotagged
in the DPMS online system as it does not have properdata. Survey numbers
are being sought from the district administration.