Smart Property Cards

Thanks to the persistent efforts of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), Navi Mumbai residents can bid adieu to the endless paperwork that is synonymous with property records. A card the size of a credit card will contain all the details of your property from now on. At an event held at Mantralaya to mark the inauguration of these digital cards, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh handed over a few cards to residents from Navi Mumbai. Each card can store 1.5 MB of data and can be obtained from Cidco for Rs 1,000. Though the agency has not made it mandatory for all Navi Mumbai residents to convert their property records into the digital format, Cidco managing director G S Gill is hopeful that the cards will soon become popular. “This is a safe and easy way of maintaining property records. Besides, this is an environment-friendly initiative as the cards will reduce the use of paper.’’ Cidco has leased more than 1.50 lakh apartments and 40,000 plots to various buyers. The new cards will help Cidco save a lot of time in maintaining these records. The introduction of these smart cards will also usher in more transparency as digital records will prevent multiple transactions of mortgage or home loan on the same property. “This system will leave no scope for cases of same property being sold to multiple buyers,’’ said Vivek Marathe, manager (estates), Cidco. Rosmerta Technologies, the company that has developed the cards said the cards are tamperproof. “Though the data stored on the card can be appended by the authority, it cannot be changed or deleted,” said Anil Oberai, vice president (technical), Rosmerta Technologies.