The Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) is gearing up to conduct a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) survey of properties within the twin cities, to bring all properties under the tax net.
The officials are currently preparing to invite a tender for the survey, which will involve the use of drones, physical door-to-door visits, and the integration of existing property data with the newly collected survey information.
Sources reveal that the officials have already drafted the tender invitation for the GIS survey. It is estimated that more than 40% of properties in the twin cities are not currently included in the tax net. If the survey is conducted effectively, the HDMC anticipates a significant increase in tax collection, potentially reaching over Rs 350 crore from the current demand of Rs 141 crore for 2024-25.According to the current records, the HDMC has a total of 3,38,602 properties under the tax net, including 1,81,148 residential properties, 34,798 commercial properties, and 1,22,656 vacant sites. Due to the lack of a proper survey to identify all properties, the HDMC collects taxes only on properties for which it has records.
Corporators have been demanding a GIS survey for over a decade due to the low revenue generated from property taxes. However, officials were hesitant to survey due to the high expenses involved. Now, with the approval from the corporators, the officials have planned for the survey and will float a tender within a couple of weeks, sources added.
Vijay Kumar, executive engineer, HDMC, stated that the draft for the tender is prepared, and the process for floating the tender will be completed in a couple of days. “After completing the tender process and issuing work orders, the survey work will be completed in nine months.
The survey work covers various components, including survey through drone, simultaneous door-to-door collection of details including measurement and other details physically for each property, and also integrating the data of existing property tax with the new data,” he said.
Many educational institutes, hospitals, commercial establishments, residential apartments, illegal layouts, and many more are expected to be brought under the tax net, which will enhance the property tax collection, said Vijay Kumar.Sources in HDMC said that the officials are planning to launch the GIS survey zone-wise instead of using one team for the entire Hubballi-Dharwad. “If 12 separate teams along with drone survey conduct physical surveys, the process will be completed in the stipulated time. Also, the latest drone survey and physical survey can later be integrated with the existing data of properties,” sources added.