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Postal Dept. starts survey of properties in Capital

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 31. After months of delay, the Postal Department has finally started a survey of properties in the Capital for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi which will help it create a data-base of all 30 lakh properties across the city.

To begin with, sources in the Postal Department and the MCD say, a sample survey of 10,000 properties would be carried out and the report would be ready by June-end. "We will proceed based on the feedback of the report,'' said a top MCD official.

As part of the survey, the postman would drop inland letters at each of the 10,000 houses. The letter, with an introduction from the MCD, comprises a questionnaire which would have to be replied to by the property owner within 15 days. "Though as of now it is not compulsory on the part of the houseowner to return the questionnaire, the postman would ensure it is duly filled up and sent to the post office.

``The postmen are being given special incentives for this survey,'' a senior official of the Postal Department said. For the sample survey, a dozen-odd postmen are being deployed. Normally, one postman is in charge of 1,000 houses.

The questionnaire seeks details from property owners about the covered area, location, road or street on which it is situated, year of construction, type of ownership and some personal details about the owner. Each of these houses would also be given a permanent house number. As of now, the MCD has a list of less than eight lakh properties and more than 22 lakh houses are outside the property tax net,'' officials said.

Officials of the Postal Department claim that such a survey was being conducted for the first time in the country. "Though we have carried out a similar survey in Bangalore and Hyderabad, that was for our own data-base. This data-base is being used to generate additional income by selling it to insurance and consumer goods companies,'' officials said.

For the sample survey, the MCD has deposited Rs. 80,000 with the Postal Department. "Had it been done by any private survey agency, they would have charged lakhs from us,'' officials said.

The survey of properties is being carried out by the civic body as part of its drive to create a complete data-base of all houses of the Capital so that the new Unit Area System of assessment of house tax is effectively implemented. The MCD is eagerly awaiting Presidential consent in this regard.

Under the Unit Area System, which is based on self- assessment, the onus of calculating and depositing the house tax would be on the property owner and not on the MCD inspectors as is the practice now. "So we need to have a complete list of all the properties along with the relevant details,'' the official explained. The figures obtained from this survey would be cross- checked and reverified, the system for which is now being evolved.

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