Unique identification to properties in the city

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s new system can now help you locate addresses easily. It has just launched DiGi7, a system that offers a seven-digit unique identification to 19 lakh properties.

Launched by the Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George on March 15, the system was developed by a team led by Special Commissioner (IT) Manoj Rajan. The BBMP assigned unique IDs to about 19 lakh properties spread over 800 sq.kms.

So will the citizens be able to use DiGi7 to identify properties, get directions and navigate? Certainly. DiGi7 can help to transport you to an address, even sharing details through SMS, WhatsApp and other mobile applications. You can even use DiGi7 for service requests, such as grievance reporting, utility servicing or applying for building plans.

Hence, all the properties under the property tax net are now covered in the first phase, according to BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad. The second phase would identify the properties under the Bengaluru Development Authority. “The system was developed mainly to put in place a uniform numbering system in the entire city,” said the Commissioner to The Hindu.

So check out your receipt when you submit the property tax for 2018-19. It will bear the property’s digital ID. BBMP will also display unique digital numbers at important locations, so that you can give directions to locate addresses easily.

Survey ranks Bengaluru as the worst city

Recently, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy released the 5th edition of its Annual Survey of India’s City-systems (ASICS) report. It claimed that in a list of 23 cities, Pune is the top scorer, with 5.1 on a scale of 10. It is followed by Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar and Surat. While Delhi is not in the top 5, it has got pushed up three places to occupy the sixth rank, not the ninth as was mentioned in the 2016 survey.

Mumbai’s ranking fell from sixth in 2016 to ninth in 2017. The worst city this year was Bengaluru that scored only 3 out of 10. It was followed by Chandigarh, Dehradun, Patna and Chennai. The purpose of the survey is to help the leaders of the city locate various issues in urban governance and work out how they can plan methods to reform roadmaps for more livable cities.

The main parameters for assessment included: urban planning and design; urban capacities and resources; empowered and legitimate political representation; transparency, and accountability and participation. The survey concluded that Indian cities are “grossly under-prepared” in delivering a high quality or sustainable life. While the constant worries are recurring floods, garbage crises, fire accidents, building collapses, air pollution and dengue outbreaks, they are just the symptoms of deeper governance crisis.

“Indian cities are in a precarious situation. There is a marginal improvement, but the rate is slow compared to the rate at which problems in the cities are growing,” JCCD CEO Srikanth Viswanathan told Business Standard.

Anil Nair, deputy head of advocay and reforms at Janaagraha, was quoted by the Indian Express: “ASICS does not measure the quality of infrastructure and services such as roads and traffic, garbage, water, housing, sanitation and air pollution. Instead, it measures the preparedness of cities to deliver high-quality infrastructure and services in the long-term by evaluating “city-systems” of spatial planning and design standards, municipal finance, municipal staffing, political leadership at the city level and transparency and citizen participation.”