NEW DELHI: Even as the deadline for taxpayers to geotag their properties nears, only 78,000 tags have been issued so far, mostly in non-residential areas. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has said that failure to geotag properties by Jan 31 will deprive taxpayers of rebates.
MCD has around 14 lakh taxpayers and around 13 lakh properties have been issued the unique property identification code (UPIC) number. A majority of these are struggling to comply with the geotagging requirement. In unauthorised colonies, the exercise doesn’t even seem to have started.
Queried about the response, MCD officials said that people were buying time and there would be a huge rush at the last moment. “The process is very simple and we are expecting that by the month-end, people will come forward to get their properties geo tagged. We held over 200 camps, meetings with RWAs and market associations,” said the official.
At the beginning of Dec last year, MCD made geotagging of all categories of properties mandatory if taxpayers were to avail property tax rebates. Taxpayer who failed to geotag their properties by Jan 31, 2024, would not be able to avail a 10% rebate on the lump sum advance payment of tax for the 2024-25 financial year by June 30.
Geotagging of properties involves assigning a unique latitude–longitude marker to a property on a GIS map by selecting current location against any unique property identification code to ensure that the properties have their location geographically identified.
“In places where addresses have not been done properly, such as in densely populated areas, the geotagging will help MCD to identify each property geographically. Geotagged properties on the app will pop up on the GIS map,” said the official.
Property owners, however, are critical of the civic body for having fixed the deadline for the completion of the process without providing proper assistance to them. They argue that officials held workshops at limited locations and have been unable to answer residents’ queries. Confusion also persists about filing taxes in different categories such as builder floors, apartments, etc.
As PK Paul of East Bengal Displaced Persons Association, Chittaranjan Park, asked, “Why does MCD expect the public to do the geotagging task when it has all the information? And by withdrawing rebates, the civic body’s revenue collection will be impacted.”
Sanjay Rana of the Greater Kailash II RWA pointed out that MCD had already reduced the rebate on advance payment of tax from 15% to 10% and now it was threatening to end even the truncated rebate if the geotagging wasn’t achieved. “Instead of giving incentives, MCD has warned of ending rebates while forcing people to carry out the exercise on their own. There are many senior citizens in our area who need help at every step and are not tech savvy,” said Rana.
Asked whether there was a possibility of extending the deadline, civic officials said that a decision on this could be taken depending on the scenario till Jan 31. “So far we are sticking to the deadline and have no plans to extend it,” said an official.
