The Hindu         13.07.2012

Survey for creating GIS database begins in all zones

S.Ganesan

A survey to collect and collate data on the city’s
infrastructure and property for creating a Geographic Information System
(GIS) database has commenced in all the four zones of the corporation.

The
survey, completed in ward 44 in Golden Rock zone after being taken up
on a pilot basis, has now been extended to the other 64 wards in the
city.

The GIS database will have applications in
urban planning and civic services, including monitoring property tax
assessment and collection, the drinking water supply and drainage
networks. Tata Consultancy Services has been entrusted with the task of
developing the GIS.

The city’s infrastructure such as
buildings, roads, water distribution network, hospitals, educational
institutions, bus stands, transport routes, parks, and playgrounds are
being mapped. The project has been taken up under World Bank-funded
Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project-III.

Tiruchi is
one of the five urban local bodies identified in the State for
land-based digital mapping with the help of satellite images.

Coimbatore
and Madurai Corporation and Gobichettipalayam and Rajapalayam
municipality are the other four urban local bodies that are being
covered under the project.

According to corporation officials, a base map has already been created based on satellite images.

Currently a survey is on to enumerate details of the public infrastructure and private property to be uploaded to the system.

Corporation Commissioner V.P.Thandapani, who inaugurated the exercise at ward 30 in Golden Rock zone on Monday, told
The Hindu
that about 1.80 lakh property in the city would have to be covered under
the survey and the corporation has deployed its bill collectors to work
along with the TCS field staff to carry out the survey.

“The
TCS has about 80 staff and we have increased the number of teams with
our staff. We hope to complete the project by November 30,”
Mr.Thandapani said.

Meanwhile, the survey has
triggered apprehensions among a section of residents in the wards that
the move was a precursor for a property tax revision.

Enumerators
collect data on the name of the owner or tenant of the property, its
usage, area measurements, electricity service connections and other
details.

This, say some officials, results in the residents not extending their full cooperation to the enumerators visiting them.

The
reluctance is pronounced among residents in wards which were formerly
under other local bodies such as town panchayats and panchayats, a
corporation official said.

Mr.Thandapani, however, clarified that the survey was not intended to carry out any immediate revision of property tax.

Though
the database would form the basis for the future property tax
revisions, carried out once every five years, cases of under-assessment
are not being targeted for revision now.

However, property which have not been assessed for property tax may be assessed based on the survey.