Bhopal Municipal Corporation 'smart card': Swipe and pay for services

BHOPAL: In a first in the country, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) would soon introduce 'smart cards' for city residents that will enable them to make payments against services just by swiping the card. Much like a pre-paid card it could be used to swipe and pay for the services provided by the civic body.
Once implemented, BMC would become the first civic body in the country to develop a 'smart card' with detailed GIS mapped information about an owner or tenant and household of every property in the state capital.
Pitching the idea as citizens friendly, BMC officials said people need not pay cash at the counters and would be required to swipe the smart card for payments. To enable card being ready for financial transactions, BMC is in negotiations with various banks. Civic body will enter into an agreement and set up some 500 point of sale machines across the city.
In the long run, smart card would be linked to pay for services including Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) tickets, metro rail and taxi services and even at fuel stations, said a BMC official. Also once the smart card is linked to a bank, residents would be able to swipe and recharge the same at specialized outlets.
A pilot survey has been conducted by the BMC in ward 28 (Mata Mandir – Riviera township area). In a first, BMC conducted a paperless survey. Using android based smart phones, surveyors were first made to login their GPS location and then carry out a door-to-door survey.
Information from some 5,000 residential and commercial properties was gathered. It entailed photograph of the owner or tenant, details of family members, EPIC and Aadhaar card details. "Information was verified against existing BMC data. In quite a few locations we detected new ownerships or change in use of property. This new data will hopefully add to citizen services and increase BMC revenue collection," said an official.