Private firm to carry out property survey in Ghaziabad

GHAZIABAD: A private agency has been roped in to carry out a survey of the properties of taxpayers in the city so that the correct details of the same can be recorded by the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the residents do not experience any difficulty in future.

Officials said the taxpayers should provide the correct details of their properties to the surveyor, an exercise which is being done free of cost.

Sanjeev Kumar Sinha, GMC’s chief tax assessment officer, said that Unicops Technology has been nominated by the state government for carrying out the survey using GIS (geographic information system) technology. An identity card has been issued jointly to the surveyor on behalf of the firm and the municipal corporation so that before giving the details of properties, their owners can also see the identity card for satisfaction.

“The survey is completely free. An appeal is being made to all building owners and taxpayers that they should make available the correct details of their properties. It will help in the correct assessment of the property and will help in resolving many inconveniences in the future,” Sinha said.

Officials said the survey is being conducted in all municipal corporations of the state. Such a survey has not been done in over a decade during which time many new buildings have been constructed. As of now, there are more than 3.5 lakh property taxpayers on whom the tax rate is applicable.

Last week, the GMC cleared a proposal to hike house tax by 15% with immediate effect. The proposal was met with opposition from a few councillors, but was cleared by the board eventually. The corporation had collected Rs 146 crore in house tax last year. With the hiked rate, the civic body hopes to earn an additional Rs 21 crore.