Bengaluru :
One of the major problems faced by people looking for properties in the city is the legality of any such purchases. The controversial demolition drive carried out by the BBMP on encroached storm water drains and lake beds two months back is testament to the dangers of purchasing properties without proper information.
Now, a Bengaluru-based startup has developed a free Google map-based risk assessment tool to help Bengalureans assess encroachment and other information required when evaluating properties.
The tool – ZippServ Protect – uses an intuitive feature to mark the storm water drains and lake encroachments based on BBMP’s revenue map. Users can search for and download relevant information from about 50 GB. One needs to only put in the location of the property on the platform and immediately one will get access to information like the land revenue maps of that particular area. Another feature enables one to measure the distance between location and the drain or lake. “It is a kind of a first level of scrutiny before making a purchase,” says ZippServ Co-founder and CEO Sudeep Anandapuram.
Sudeep and his team have collected information spanning over 800 sq km within the city and it can also highlight the primary and secondary drains and help users to measure the width of a drains and extent of encroachment.
Kathyayini Chamaraj of CIVIC, a voluntary citizens initiative, said that in light of government records themselves being faulty there was a need to exercise caution. “I do not know to what extent such tools will be of help when it has often been found that maps and records of authorities like the BDA and BBMP themselves are often faulty and even fabricated,” she says.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ramzauva Chhakchhuak / Express News Service / November 28th, 2016