After a gap of four years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally decided to carry out survey of all properties and roads in the city with the help of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology. This will enable the civic body to identify illegal constructions and encroachments in the city, said civic officials.
The civic body had planned to adopt the LiDAR technology for accurate mapping of the land surface area four years ago in 2012. However, the plan was put in cold storage owing to the apathetic approach of civic officials.
“The LiDAR technology with the help computer software will determine the discrepancies in the construction plan and its actual size. This will help us to charge property tax on these constructions. It will also enable the civic body to keep control on illegal extensions in future,” said Bapu Pawar, deputy municipal commissioner (assessment and collection).
According to civic officials, there are 3,18,759 properties in Mumbai, which have been divided into four categories — residential, commercial, industrial and lands. These properties have total 29,91,252 units, of which 23,10,168 are residential properties, 5,79,263 industrial, 85,509 commercial and 16,312 are lands.
LiDAR is a modern technology that has received wide acceptance around the world for its usefulness in terrain mapping. Using this GPS-enabled technology, civic officials will be able to determine where road repairs and constructions are necessary, and identify the nature of structures, such as encroachments, that may be causing bottlenecks.
