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Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday announced that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) would use artificial intelligence to deliver property documents to the doorstep and to identify illegal constructions.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting with legislators of Bengaluru on BBMP budget 2025-26, he said, "Many property owners have built excess floor areas without a legal sanction. And, they are not paying proportionate taxes as well. We will use artificial intelligence to identify and measure such illegal constructions." He said that property tax was not paid on about 7 lakh properties, of which one lakh have been brought under tax bracket. "The remaining needs to be brought under tax bracket. The BBMP did not have the power to attach illegal properties, but a law has been passed regarding that last week. It has also been decided to declare even private roads in private layouts as public roads," he explained. "I have instructed senior officials to suspend those BBMP officials who are hand in glove with owners of illegal properties. All properties must pay taxes and there is no compromise on that. Some of the MLAs have suggested classifying residences as group housing and single housing while issuing approvals. He said that the initiative to deliver khata at people's doorsteps will be rolled out from April. "All property documents have been digitised. We will conduct awareness programmes in association with the MLAs of the respective constituencies," he informed. He said that there is no provision for street vendors to build shops by the roadside in the future and there is a court order regarding that as well. "As many as 3,778 applications have come for issuance of pushcarts. We are willing to provide 10,000 pushcarts from the BBMP this year. The date for registration of pushcarts has been extended till end of April. Those vendors who are not registered will be cleared. The BBMP will issue specially designed pushcart," he detailed. "The pushcarts are in the form of bicycles, autorickshaws, bikes and traditional pushcart models. Tenders will be called for manufacturing this. We are bringing this scheme to ensure that the police, hooligans and officials don't bother the street vendors," he added. He further said that the government is preparing to conduct the BBMP elections soon. "We will go for the elections as soon as the Greater Bengaluru Governance bill is approved by the Governor," he said. He said that the elected representatives of Bengaluru city have given many suggestions and have put forward many demands from the people of their constituencies. "All these will be factored into the BBMP budget. Many BJP MLAs were absent from the budget preparatory meeting demanding revoking of suspension of the MLAs from the House. I have told them that it was between the Speaker and the BJP MLAs. I had fixed the budget meeting in consultation with Ashwathnarayan and R Ashok," he added. (ANI)
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