Properties in urban bodies to get unique numbers soon

ALL 167 URBAN BODIES IN PUNJAB TO BE COVERED BY AERIAL DRONE SURVEY, FOLLOWED BY PHYSICAL DEMARCATION

CHANDIGARH:ALL commercial, residential and industrial properties in Punjab will soon have unique numbers, with the state having been divided into nearly 40,200 sectors measuring 1.25 square kilometres each.

The state local bodies department has started the process to tag all properties through geographical information system (GIS) in 167 urban local bodies.

The process will involve use of aerial drone mapping which will take into account three-dimensional information of properties such as their height and width.

The idea was mooted to check mushrooming of illegal properties and creating a digitised record of the existing ones along with the information of their owners.

The urban mapping is helpful in making master plans, laying of sewerage and water supply lines.

“For the first time, the height of all the properties will be recorded along with their length and width. The drone surveys will be conducted with a periodicity of two to three years. Every fresh survey will be matched with the previous one to know how the skyline has changed and as how the covered area has been altered,” said Maj Gen (retd) Shamsher Singh, who is heading the state’s GIS project.

So far, drone survey has been completed in Khanna, Machhiwara, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Majitha, Moga, Ferozepur, Jandiala Guru and SBS Nagar and field demarcation has been started there.

Maj Gen Singh said drone survey of Amritsar and Ludhiana cities is underway for which the Survey of India has been engaged.

“There are a lot of restrictions on flying of drones as it requires multiple permissions from the ministry of defence, military intelligence, air force, ministry of home affairs and the director general of civil aviation. The Survey of India gets all permissions easily and it is reliable and also equipped to handle such projects,” he added.

“The DGCA has capped the maximum height of drones for aerial survey at 400 feet. But 390400 feet is ideal to get the best resolution. “I want to finish drone surveys in all 167 local bodies by the end of this year,” said Maj Gen Singh said.