The Indian Express           03.09.2013

Council maps New Delhi area, uploads it to website

With VVIP area under the council's jurisdiction, NDMC chairman Jalaj Srivastava said with smartphones and GIS mapping, people should be able to know where they are headed without fear of wasting time on roundabouts.

Mapping would also reduce the response time for emergency services, Srivastava said.

"The map has been uploaded and with smartphones and 3G technology. I want every person struggling with routes to navigate the area easily. Not just that, people may be able to help reduce the response time if a calamity occurs. Suppose a tree falls on a road, the person can send us the picture or text and we can reach there in minimal time by getting the coordinates of the place," Srivastava said.

The details include road intersections, flyovers, private and public land, primary buildings, secondary buildings, public trees (large and small) and private trees (large and small), streetlights, transformers, manholes, dustbins, park lights, and every house in the area. The area map can be searched through various keywords such as address, home owner, road location, and road intersections.

The map gives out details about buildings, civic services, electrical sub-stations, community centres, houses, road intersections, mosques, kerb land, water bodies, overhead and under-construction Metro line, petrol pumps and footpath land.

The chairman also said the effort to map the area and upload it was initiated when Rakesh Mehta was in-charge, but could not be implemented.

"We want everyone to make use of technology. We understand that this is a very important and sensitive area but we will do our best to protect it through technology. This area is visited by lots of foreigners, tourists, expats and our own commuters. Instead of understanding the area through maps, we want people to make use of technology now available on their phones," Srivastava said.

Director Projects (IT) O P Mishra is in-charge of the project and has been monitoring the smooth functioning of the maps. 

The Times of India              02.09.2013

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation takes hi-tech route to collect taxes

BHUBANESWAR: With a view to do away with the manual mode of tax collection, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to introduce 'hand held computer' device to simplify the work.

The civic body is all set to start the bidding process to select an agency for the procurement of gadgets. "We consulted IT experts and the housing and urban development department and they have given us a green signal to introduce the system under the e-municipality project," a senior BMC officer said.

Initially, the devices would be used for holding and water tax collections. The gadgets will be given to 76 tax collectors of the BMC, sources said.

Before going to the field, information like holding the number and property type (residential or commercial), tax amount and cess of a specified group of properties would be downloaded to the memory of the device from the application software installed in the PC. The data would be loaded in a walking order so that it will be easier for the operator to select the next customer in very little time.

"When the operator types the holding number, all relevant data will be displayed on the screen. Pressing a key, the operator can issue the bill and collect the amount," BMC mayor A N Jena said.

BMC plans to procure such a device, which can collect full or partial payment. "We will try to collect the payment either in cash or cheque or DD. The data will get posted in the relevant fields of the application package installed in the PC. This will speed up the process as well as eliminate any sort of mistakes," another BMC officer said.

In a related development, the state government opened Odisha Online Service Centres (OOSC) at BMC and BDA offices here on Saturday to accept various utility bills from citizens. People can pay electricity bills, water tax, holding tax, trade licence fee and apply for death and birth certificates at those centres. The OOSC project has been implemented by Odisha e-Governance Service Limited (OeSL), a special purpose vehicle formed by Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC). The corporation opened OOSC at Chandrasekharpur, Old Town, Unit-V and Nayapalli a few days ago.