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The Gorakhpur Geographical Information System
Methodology
The Methodology adopted in order to fulfill the above objective commenced with a rapid inventory of the available information. A questionnaire was prepared in Hindi (the local language) and included all the information necessary for assessing a property according to the current practices followed by the Municipal Corporation as well as information that would be needed under the Property Tax Self-Assessment scheme to be adopted shortly by all the Municipal Corporations within the state of U.P. Subsequently a base map was prepared for the study area. The only maps available for the city of Gorakhpur are the 1972 Survey of India Map at the 1:20,000 scale and the 1913 Revenue map on the 1:6,490 scale. These were subsequently scanned, enlarged and the first level map digitized in Map/Info. Remote Sensing imageries in the 5.8m and 1m resolution could not be used because of lack of funds. Each property in the area was notionally marked on the base map and given a number, either from the existing computer records or a new number in case of an un-assessed property. A fresh property survey was conducted on the basis of the questionnaire prepared and data was fed into MS Excel sheets. Thus all information pertaining to a property, for example, land use, location, number of floors in the building, year of construction, year of stay of the resident, status of resident (owner/renter), rent paid (if the property is rented), water connection, sewer connection, electricity connection, type of construction, number of rooms in the house, area of rooms, total area and covered area of the property, was collected and stored. The surveyors were also asked to sketch the plan of each property, for future reference and comparison. The manual property map was also crosschecked and necessary corrections made at the time of the survey. Subsequently, this map was digitized and the data collected from the survey was attached to each property on the map. Information on property billing and arrears obtained from the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation had to be converted from '.dbf' format to '.xls' format and then attached to the maps. House Plans, which had been passed by the Gorakhpur Development Authority before the construction of a house, were scanned and attached to an MS Access database, along with the house sketches made by the surveyors in order that comparisons between the existing situation and approved plans could be made. The final analysis and reassessment of properties was done in the form of tables and maps. Observations & Findings Conducting the survey in the Civil Lines Mohalla was particularly difficult because each property in the area had more than one building and data had to be collected for each one of them. There are also a number of high-rise buildings with flats, and data for each flat was collected. Thus, where the Municipal Corporation record states that there are 530 houses in the area, the Society found 3162. These were then reduced to 627 records, in order to make the data compatible with that of the Municipal Corporation. Bilandpur & Kalepur Mohallas on the other hand are more like the remaining city wherein each property generally has only one building with Residential, Commercial or Mixed Land use. Thus according to the computer records of the Municipal Corporation, the Civil Lines Wards I & II had 1,073 properties but the survey located 1,366 properties. The study showed that while 3%(41) of the properties in the Corporation records were non-existent, 21%(284) of the properties in the area still remained un-assessed. The maximum number of un-assessed properties was in the newer Bilandpur Mohalla, accounting for 156(11%) of the total records. But the un-assessed properties in the older Civil Lines Mohalla were no less, 98 (7%) of the total records.  Figure 3: Status of Properties According to the current Annual Rental Value (12% House Tax, 12% Water Tax, 3% Sewer Tax and 0% Conservancy Tax), 72% property owners in Bilandpur and 66% in Kalepur have property tax arrears pending towards the Corporation and maximum cases were in the range of Rs. 1-3000 (on 30-06-2000). Properties within each mohalla were further divided on the basis of landuse, type of construction, year of construction, year of stay, location of property, availability of basic amenities, covered area and carpet area. Attempts were made to derive the per sq. ft. Annual Rental Value from the available data but further work on reassessment remains pending because of unavailability of comprehensive data on the carpet area of each property. Till such time that the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation sends out a directive to the property owners asking them to submit information on the carpet area, a comprehensive reassessment of properties cannot be attempted. A task possible only when reassessment is done for the entire city in the second Phase. Financial Benefits projected for the Corporation Financial Benefits projected for the Municipal Corporation have been calculated on the basis of two options - as per the total number of wards and as per the total number of properties. The Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation levies a total of 27% taxes on the population residing within its limits and all calculations have been made in accordance. Option I : According to Wards As shown in Table 1, if benefits accruing from the un-assessed properties within the 2 wards studied in the Pilot phase are postulated atRs. 5.37 lacs then the benefits accruing from the 60 wards within the Corporation limits can be estimated at Rs. 1.6 crores. Even if only 75% of this value is taken into account, it still amounts to an enormous figure of Rs.1.2 crores. Table 1 : Financial Justification according to Wards
Source : Society for PRISM Note : Conservancy Tax (0% ARV) Option II : According to Properties Financial benefits if calculated on the basis of the total number of un-assessed properties within the city (20% of total properties), excluding an estimated 2% non-existent records and taking an average ARV of Rs.2,000 as the datum value. The benefits accruing towards the Municipal Corporation will amount to Rs. 1.5 lacs for the study area and Rs. 70 lacs for the entire city. Increase in ARV Once a fresh survey of the entire city is conducted, it is assumed that a minimum of 25% of the properties in the current records of the Corporation will need to be reassessed and that the increase in their ARV will be a minimum of Rs. 500. This will benefit the Municipal Corporation by a further Rs. 82 lacs. Gross Financial Benefits from the Project Thus it is proposed that the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation will benefit by Rs. 2 crores if the first option is added to the increase in ARV or by Rs. 1.5 crores if the second option is considered with the increase in ARV. Other Benefits This study will not only benefit the taxation branch of the Municipal Corporation but once Census data is attached to each property, it can make a very powerful tool for all kinds of planning purposes in the fields of water supply, sewerage & solid waste management. This GIS map with its attached data base will also be beneficial to other departments like - City Administration, Revenue Department, District Urban Development Authority, Gorakhpur Development Authority, Police, Telephone Department and Electricity Department, to name just a few.
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