To bring in transparency in operations as well as provide up-to date and real-time information to citizens, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will now issue Building Identification Numbers to all buildings under its jurisdiction where every building will have a single master number under which all data of different building permits issued by various departments of the municipal corporation will be stored.

Under the MYBMC Building ID project, citizens will now have information about all the permissions and services related to their building by using a single main number called Building Identification Number.  
Initially, in the first phase, services of four main departments, ie, assessment, water connection, trade/health permits, shops and establishments are being linked together. Going forward, information of 12 services will be added in a phased manner.

Besides online connectivity, the system will help BMC in administrative work like increase in revenue, transparency and speed in administrative work. For Mumbaikars it will provide updated, reliable information on various permits.

Inaugurating the project, Aswhini Bhide, additional municipal commissioner (eastern suburbs), said that the municipal corporation had already started the process of giving an identification number to each building. It has now to be expanded and to start linking the information of different permits given to each building.

“This project has been started in 'beta', i.e., continuous improvement mode to carry out connectivity works at the administrative level. This project is not only for the convenience of the citizens, but also it is important to increase the overall transparency in the functioning of the Municipal Corporation and increase the speed and accuracy of the administrative works,” said Bhide.
 
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not appointed any contractor or consultant for the project which is being executed by its own information technology department with the help of internal systems and involvement of its own stakeholders.

What is the building identification number about?
Before constructing any building in the BMC area, proposal of building is approved by the municipal corporation. Every building requires various permits and services from different departments of the municipal corporation. These different departmental permits and services also have different administrative reference numbers attached to the same building like building proposals, water supply, assessment, shops and establishments etc and also involve accounts like permits, documents, services and facilities given to the building starting from its construction to actual use. Further, all procedures like trade/health permit, issuing of fire safety certificate, unauthorized construction/damaged building action, tree cutting etc. are done through the municipal corporation.

Now the Building ID will be a repository or the single reference number for permits and services of different departments of BMC.

With about 2,33,000 property tax eligible buildings in BMC area at present, each of these buildings has been given a 15-digit number (SAC Number) for collection of property tax. Now the same umbrella number will club reference numbers of the rest of the accounts. The process of information collection is expected to be completed in next three to four months.

Besides accessing information on permits and services linked through the building ID number through weblinks on the website of the municipal corporation, citizens will also be able to access info on municipal corporations’  MyBMC mobile app as well as Google Maps. For example, in the assessment account of the municipal corporation, the total number of flats, blocks, floors in use of  building, trade/health permits, registration of shops and establishments, water connection number, their usage, approvals given through the building proposal department, maps, unauthorized/ dilapidated constructions, etc. and basic information about the action taken etc. will be available.
 
The system will enable citizens to make various permit applications/renewals as well as payment of fees.

“Mumbaikars can now download the 'Building ID' sticker of their building through the MyBMC Building ID link and put it on the front of the building for information of the residents of the building. They can see the information connected to their building which will help house, building owners and housing association management in the work related to the building,” said a BMC official.