PANAJI: State govt has initiated a comprehensive survey to gather data on houses and structures throughout Goa, as required by the finance commission. The information will also be used to ascertain if owners have paid the house tax and obtained the TCP clearance.
The current TCP zoning will be documented in the exercise. Details on construction licences from the local authorities will also be gleaned from the data. Additionally, records of water, electricity, and health NOCs will be maintained.
Information gathered will include house numbers, the names of house or structure owners, village details, and ward numbers. Additionally, comprehensive addresses covering street and locality information will be collected, along with survey or subdivision numbers.
Data on the construction date of houses or structures and their area in square metres will be gathered. The number of floors will be recorded.
The survey will encompass the usage of houses and structures for various purposes — whether they are commercial, residential, social, or educational.
The directorate of planning, statistics, and evaluation has requested the directorate of panchayats to gather the data from panchayats.
“We have issued a memorandum to block development officers (BDOs) asking them to instruct village panchayat secretaries within their jurisdictions to collect and submit the information promptly,” a senior official said. “This will enable the planning, statistics, and evaluation directorate to compile and prepare the report.”
The official expressed ignorance about the purpose of the data. “We have been told that it is a requirement of the finance commission.”
The directorate of panchayats has already started a survey of the unauthorised structures that were allotted temporary house numbers. Since Oct 2021, village panchayats have been issuing temporary house numbers to illegal structures to collect various taxes for revenue generation.
An insertion of a proviso in the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, empowers village panchayats to levy taxes on unauthorised structures.
In the winter session of the assembly, some MLAs had alleged that the house numbers were allotted illegally by panchayats to structures, a few of which did not even exist. Director of panchayats Siddhi Halarnakar had asked the BDOs to carry out a survey of all such structures and to submit a report to govt.
