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• Ludhiana’s property UID plate project has remained stalled for nearly 12 years despite multiple implementation attempts by the municipal corporation.
• The initiative aimed to digitally map residential and commercial properties through QR-enabled unique identification plates linked to civic and tax records.
• Earlier phases faced delays due to public resistance, contractor disputes, outdated surveys and disagreements over mapping methods.
• Around 85,000 properties were covered during the latest phase under the Smart City Mission before work stopped again.
• Officials are now considering a fresh city-wide survey as older GIS records no longer reflect Ludhiana’s current urban expansion and property growth.
Ludhiana’s long-pending property UID plate project, planned to digitally identify residential and commercial properties across the city, continues to remain incomplete even after multiple revival efforts by the municipal corporation over the past decade. The project was introduced to improve property tax collection, strengthen civic record management and create a centralised digital database linked to water supply, sewerage and other municipal services. Advertisement
The initiative was originally proposed around 2014 when the civic body planned to assign every property a unique identification number along with a QR-enabled plate to be installed outside buildings. Through these plates, municipal officials were expected to access ownership records, pending taxes, water bills and other civic details digitally. The project was also seen as a step towards improving transparency in municipal administration and identifying unassessed properties that were outside the tax network.
During the initial implementation phase, work began in selected areas including Model Town and nearby localities. Residents were reportedly asked to pay nearly INR 110 for installation of each plate, which led to resistance from several property owners. Low participation affected the pace of the rollout and the project slowed significantly after covering nearly 35,000 properties. The civic body was unable to complete city-wide implementation and the project remained inactive for several years.
Authorities later attempted to restart the exercise under the Smart City Mission with revised funding support. In the second phase, the municipal corporation removed the resident contribution component and approved a project estimated at around INR 5.7 crore. Officials planned to expand the digital property mapping exercise to over four lakh properties identified through earlier GIS-based surveys conducted across the city.
However, the project again ran into operational issues during execution. Reports indicated that disagreements emerged between the contractor and municipal authorities regarding the survey methodology and implementation process. The earlier GIS-based mapping system was later proposed to be replaced with drone-based surveys for better accuracy, but the transition reportedly created technical and administrative complications. Work eventually stopped once again after nearly 85,000 UID plates had been installed in different parts of the city.
Officials have also acknowledged that the city’s older property database may no longer accurately represent Ludhiana’s current urban spread. Large-scale residential growth, unauthorised constructions, commercial expansion and newly developed areas over the past decade have reportedly made earlier survey records outdated. Civic authorities are now considering whether a completely fresh property survey may be required before restarting the UID plate project again.
The delay has further highlighted the wider challenges faced by urban local bodies in Punjab in maintaining updated digital property records. In recent years, residents in Ludhiana and surrounding areas have raised concerns regarding property record mismatches, taxation discrepancies and delays in updating ownership details. Similar digital record-related issues have also surfaced in other North Indian cities where incomplete online databases created difficulties in property verification and registrations.
Municipal officials have maintained that the UID plate system remains important for improving tax compliance and strengthening civic administration. The project was also expected to help authorities track illegal constructions, identify pending dues more efficiently and reduce duplication in municipal records. Civic authorities are reportedly exploring possible support under central government urban development schemes to restart and complete the pending work in future phases.
Apart from tax collection, the digital identification system was expected to support urban planning and infrastructure management in a rapidly growing industrial city like Ludhiana. Officials earlier stated that an updated property database could help improve planning related to roads, sewerage networks, water supply connections and emergency services. However, repeated delays, administrative gaps and changing implementation strategies prevented the city from fully operationalising the system.
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