Bhayandar: At a time when the state government has been advocating its zero tolerance towards illegal constructions, and to fill the coffers of the civic bodies by broadening their tax base, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation’s (MBMC) much-hyped multi-pronged strategy.
Including deployment of drone cameras to keep a tab on illegal structures, remains stuck in the doldrums for more than two years. This despite the fact illegal constructions continue to mushroom across the twin-city.
As part of the statewide initiative mooted by the government, the civic administration had roped in a technical consultant to launch a comprehensive e-governance platform for the corporation in June 2017.
The project was guided by the state’s urban development department and Information & Technology wing.
Apart from identification of properties that have been under-assessed or have still not been evaluated for tax, facilitating different types of fully computerised modules and digitisation of manual records, the e-initiative envisaged aerial surveys to trace and weed out illegal constructions.
The civic administration has earned notoriety for massive unauthorised illegal constructions, which have been flourishing across the region, owing to an unholy nexus between local politicians, officials and illegal construction mafia.
While officials attached to the concerned department were unavailable for their comment, lack of political will in curbing the illegal construction menace has been attributed to the delay in implementing the much-needed project.
By Suresh Golani
