area, locality, amongst others and thereby suggest applied tax calculation. An efficient GIS based tax assessment system has the ability to showcase information on tax payables and revenue collection. It can further trigger automatic notices
to taxpayers to clear their outstanding dues. The system can not only assist the city administrators in developing an efficient tax collection mechanism, but also reduces the need for physical visit to address issues and other assessment processes.
Surat City: GIS based Property Tax Management16 Background 9 Municipal revenue generation for Surat Municipal Corporation was limited and dependent on grant funds from state and central government. 9 It is important to improve property tax collection which contributes more than 50% to municipal revenue from own sources. 9 Effective policy regarding property tax collection and effective infrastructure development can improve revenue collection. Implementation 9 Surat Municipal Corporation has developed a Web based GIS system for better governance, improve operational efficiency and ease of interaction with citizens. 9 Surat Municipal Corporation has awarded the project to Antrix Corporation and its partner Scanpoint Geomatics. Key features of the GIS based system are as under: 9 Property Tax: Individual property is integrated with the property tax system. Information like owner name, property type, outstanding tax, etc are available for each property. Further the system also provides data on pending recovery after bill generation. 9 Building Permission: Building plan approval system has been integrated with GIS application. 9 Citizen Interface: It provides citizens access to plot search, building permission details, part-print generation, etc. Key Impact 9 The pilot project helped in identification of unassessed properties. 9 Basis pilot project, the entire city was reassessed. The property tax recovery witnessed rise from INR 596 Cr to INR 717 Cr without increasing tax. 9 Information for all public plots are demarcated for various purposes 9 Citizen can check the development permissions, legality and ownership prior to purchasing property
3.1.2. Citizen Engagement Services17 With the launch of Smart Cities Mission in 2015, the mission has always focused on citizen centricity. During the selection process of Smart Cities, feedback and ideas were taken from the citizens towards defining the vision and plan for each city through focused engagement and interaction. This also ensured their proactive participation and cooperation for implementation. The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled civic bodies to consider alternate methods to provide
essential services to its citizens. Applications like ‘Citizen Mobile’ has helped in reaching the doorstep of citizens without stepping out-of-home, where the citizens’ requirements were centrally managed through the Smart City ICCC platform. The field level officers were provided with a workforce mobile app equipped with an automated communication platform to mobilize civic staff as and where required, thus optimizing the workforce on the field and reducing their exposure risk.
URBAN REJUVENATION Transition to a Smart & Sustainable Future
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