Former BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad
Transparent online procedure will be initiated through house owner’s Aadhaar-linked mobile number
After pilot project in Shanthala Nagar, Neelasandra and Shantinagar wards, BBMP portal link will be made available in next 2 weeks to residents of 97 other core wards to complete registration process on their own
Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad assures owners that online procedure for registration will be announced soon
BENGALURU:
For all Bengalurean house owners who were in a funk after reading on thebengalurulive.com about BBMP’s decision to scrap physical khata certificates and khata extracts, which are issued to ‘A’ property holders — they can breathe easy.
The newly launched system, E-Aasthi DigiLocker, for property owners will do away with middlemen or interactions with BBMP revenue officers. Besides, it will help property buyers as all ownership-related documents will be available on a single platform.
How important the new development is to lakhs of Bengalurean property owners can be gauged from the fact that TheBengaluruLive story titled ‘Now, your khata certificate will have only scrap value’ (https://thebengalurulive.com/now-your-khata-certificate-will-have-only-scrap-value/) on November 14 received almost 1,04,755 hits on our web page (till 8am on November 16), while almost 2.93 lakh hits came from other social media. Without exaggeration, the story notched up the highest ‘shares’ in recent times as the issue of property documents affects every single Bengalurean in one way or another.
No need to visit ARO
We received many queries through e-mail from people worried that BBMP was asking them to visit the concerned assistant revenue officer’s office to complete the digital document procedure. TheBengaluruLive took up the issue with BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, who categorically clarified that not a single taxpayer who owns property in Bengaluru needs to visit BBMP’s ARO offices as the entire procedure has to be completed online by the owner.
Prasad said that as the project is in the initial stage, “we are asking residents from three wards — Shanthala Nagar, Neelasandra and Shantinagar — to approach the ARO office to complete the procedure.” He added, “Once we convert these three wards, we will be make the portal link available for residents of the 97 core Bengaluru wards falling under East, West and South zones. The residents will need to complete the procedure online on their own by filling in components from 18 to 46, as BBMP already has components from 1 to 17. There will not be any middleman worries and the entire procedure will be transparent.”
The BBMP Commissioner claimed that the civic agency wants to “bridge the gap” between taxpayers and the administration. “We do not want taxpayers to visit their respective ARO officer or tax inspector. The E-Aasthi project will be driven by the property owner, and will be linked to his/her Aadhaar,” Prasad said. He pointed out that BBMP currently accesses all property data in Bengaluru from the Sub-Registrar department through the Kaveri software. “Citizens need to complete the components from 18 to 46. For this, citizens will have to use their Aadhaar-registered mobile number. Once the procedure is completed, their property documents will be stored in DigiLocker. BBMP will create an account if citizens do not have any,” Prasad said.
Pay Rs 125 online for hard copy
One of the major concerns raised by citizens was whether they can obtain a hard copy of the new E-Aasthi. Clarifying, Prasad said, “Our intention is to promote online and digital platforms for every service offered by BBMP. Hence, we will provide a step where citizens can obtain a hard copy of E-Aasthi by paying Rs 125, which they were paying to get the khata extract and certificate. The payment to obtain the hard copy will have be to made online.”
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