Satellite mapping of Coimbatore hangs fire

Coimbatore: As the Coimbatore corporation pitches for the prestigious Smart City project, the crucial satellite mapping of the city infrastructure for better civic management hangs fire.

Even five years after the data collection through Geographical Information System (GIS) began, the project has covered just 60 out of the 100 corporation wards in Coimbatore. The work has not even begun in the 40 newly-added corporation areas. But the private company engaged in data collection and satellite mapping has packed up midway and left for Chennai, leaving the data half-baked.

“During the GIS project work, corporation officials gave maps of only 60 wards. The corporation does not have detailed maps of the 40 wards newly added. But the fund was allotted to develop GIS information for 100 wards, ” said an official of WTA Pvt. Ltd., involved in data collection work.

The Tamil Nadu government had allotted Rs 2.87 crore to collect data in all the 100 wards through the GIS in Coimbatore. Though the fund was allotted for all the 100 wards, work has been completed only in 60 wards.

The project aimed at developing a GIS knowledge base on corporation infrastructure with links to municipal Information system to enable improvement of property tax assessment, collection of taxes and infrastructure planning for expansion and management. GIS mapping will help manage urban areas and develop civic amenities.

TCS was hired for the satellite mapping work, which in turn subcontracted it to WTA Pvt. Ltd. From data on collection of property tax to EB line details, house owners’ phone numbers, sewage status, house roof type, just about the data of each household was collected with the help of bill collectors.

“But there was a lot of confusion over division of wards. One bill collector said this street belonged to the ward under his jurisdiction while another bill collector claimed the same street under his ward. According to the records of the corporation, a few houses in a street belong to one ward while a few other houses on the same street belong to another ward. In satellite mapping, it is impossible to map a few houses in a street in one ward and few others on the same street in another ward,” revealed the official. Confusion reigned over mode of survey as well. “Initially, we did ward-wise data collection Then, corporation officials asked us to conduct the survey based on voters list in the local body elections. So, we collected data based on the voter list. A few months later they asked us to collect data ward wise. They kept on changing the mode of data collection. It imposed profound pressure on employees and loss of time. When we asked for information pertaining to the newly added 40 wards, corporation officials said that they don't have sufficient information,” the official of WTA private Ltd. said.

However, when contacted, the Coimbatore town planning officer (in-charge) Ravichandran said he has to go through the files pertaining to GIS data collection. “Only then, I can answer the questions.”But efforts to contact him again went in vain.

Kovai may miss the Smart City bus....

With the Coimbatore corporation yet to complete the Geographical Information System data collection, the civic body may just miss the Smart City bus, feel a section of officials.

The Union ministry of urban development has invited applications from Coimbatore corporation for the Smart City project. In its guidelines, the ministry has asked City corporations to attach city development plan along with the application. According to official sources, the corporation is struggling to fill the application for the Smart City project with incomplete Geographical Information System (GIS) data collection work. If the application has incomplete information, there is a possibility that it may not get selected in the first phase of the project, said officials. Meanwhile, officials of the private company engaged in the GIS data collection work blame the assistant town planning officers for not extending cooperation to complete the project.

“During the data collection, the corporation deputy commissioners extended their support. But assistant town planning officers wouldn’t give support or help to the project. The corporation officials were not willing to cooperate with us, because this project work won’t benefit them,”said an official of the private company.