LDA issuing maps with QR codes to check fraud

LUCKNOW:The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has started issuing maps of residential houses with QR codes to check fake maps.

The development authority is using ‘online building map approval system’ for issuing maps.

The Quick Response code or a QR code is a machine –readable code having black and white squares that are used for storing URLs or other information. They are read with the help of code scanners that can be downloaded from a playstore on a smart phone. Once this QR code of a map is scanned, a website link will appear on the screen that will lead a person to the building’s map stored by the LDA online. A customer can download a soft copy of the map.

Maps with QR codes are also beneficial for banks when a customer approaches them for a loan. To ascertain authenticity of a map, banks just have to scan the QR code and download soft copy of the map. With the help of this soft copy, banks can know whether the map presented by the customer, who is seeking loan against a property, is genuine or fake. Earlier, banks had to get the maps verified at the LDA office manually.

“The LDA has started issuing maps of houses with QR codes. This has made the process of verification of maps easy and has also put a check on fake maps,” said Nitin Mittal, chief town planner, LDA. The state government is also planning to use same QR codes on maps for group housing and commercial establishments. This will enable a customer to know whether a builder is constructing the building as per the approved map or not.

Often, a builder deviates from the map approved by the development authority. According to LDA officials, builders often deviate from the approved map and add one or two extra floors to the group housing building. In case, an eight-floor group housing map is approved, but a builder adds two extra floors, then it would be detected very easily.

In many cases, builders carry out commercial construction even if the map was approved for residential project. If QR codes are used on such maps, customers will be able to know whether the builder is constructing the building according to the map approved or not.