Hyderabad: Despite falling short of Rs 35 crore a month, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is in no mood to increase its revenues. The Digital Door Numbering (DDN) project which would eradicate corruption at the ground level and enhance by at least Rs 500 crore annual property tax has been put on hold. Officials even claimed that the digital house numbering project which was piloted in Moosapet was not even on their agenda.
The DDN project was aimed at creating a uniform addressing system for all dwellings across Hyderabad, using geo-spatial and cloud computing technologies but has been put in cold storage. The project was aimed at providing accurate door numbers which would be of help during voter enumeration and tax collection. Official said that if the data was synchronized, it would enhance the accuracy of voter data and the number of households in the city. However, despite several announcements since two years, the GHMC is yet to take up the project.
According to a GHMC official, the DDN process involves taking high-resolution latest satellite images, processing images to identify unique properties following field verification by teams comprising a GIS team and tax inspectors by concerned deputy commissioners. A special mobile application will capture the entire data of each area, which will be automatically updated online. The project is aimed at every property across departments of GHMC and will be tracked through a unique number. After the DDNs are assigned to properties, a weather resistant board will be attested to all households.
It is not just about attesting DDNs, this project will benefit various departments in different ways. For citizens it will be convenient in communicating and locating the address in newer areas. Similarly, for GHMC this will aid in recording all structures for property assessment and increasing its revenue. However, GHMC commissioner Mr D.S. Lokesh Kumar said that the DDN project was not even on their agenda since the project required enormous manpower and funds. He said that against the monthly demand of Rs 143 crore, the corporation had been generating about Rs 105 crore.
He said that the corporation had been looking for alternative methods to enhance revenue to meet the monthly expenses of the corporation. Mr Kumar said the details and mechanism would be out shortly.
