Mumbai civic body to upgrade its system to track encroachments, – Homevior

MUMBAI: BMC is creating a new removal of encroachment tracking and management system with improved features to help keep track of complaints of unauthorised construction, including status of complaints, their pendency, and redress at various levels, and to ensure transparency.

Citizens will also be able to know if a particular building or flat has carried out unauthorised construction, as the system will integrate existing systems of various BMC depts on a single platform and enable sharing of data and coordination between depts.

The existing system became obsolete and needed improvement; therefore, a web application and mobile application are being developed, said a civic official. “Integrating systems of various depts, including Property Tax, Legal, and Building Proposal depts on a single platform will enable sharing of data and smoother functioning. For example, if there is a complaint and it needs to be verified if unauthorised construction was carried out beyond plans, the approved plan for the building will have to be sought from Building Proposal dept. With the integration of the systems online, information will be made available faster, and action can be taken easily and immediately,” said a civic official.

Similarly, integrating the system of the legal department will enable tracking of court cases with regard to a particular building or structure and compliance with court orders. For instance, linking the property tax system will enable us to add demolition charges or penalties to the property tax dues of the structure owners, the official added.

“The existing system is being upgraded with latest technologies. Systems of various depts will be integrated into the new system, which will eliminate the need for offline referencing while seeking inter-departmental information or intimating other depts. Lacunae in the earlier system have been removed, and the system will be more transparent. It will also enable timely tracking of complaints and generation of MIS reports,” said Mridula Ande, assistant commissioner of BMC’s Removal of Encroachment dept. The system will also have tools for senior BMC officials to review working of staff through MIS reports and dashboards on a live basis.