Ongole: The Government of India has selected Ongole Municipal Corporation for the National GeoSpatial Knowledge-Based Survey of Inhabitations in Urban Areas (NAKSHA) programme.

A total of 10 urban local bodies from Andhra Pradesh were selected for the NAKSHA programme, under which, urban properties will undergo digitalisation.

Municipalities that complete the digitalisation process will receive Rs 30 crore each as incentives from the central government in three instalments.

As part of this programme, all inhabitations within the Ongole Municipal Corporation have been photographed already using drone cameras. These Ortho Rectified Images (ORI) will serve as the basis for conducting house-to-house surveys by specially formed teams.

Ongole Municipal Commissioner Dr K Venkateswara Rao explained that the teams will create property polygons daily in designated areas using rovers based on these ORIs, in a process known as ‘ground truthing.’ He said that this process is expected to take approximately 45 days to complete. Due to a shortage of rovers, 15 additional devices have been arranged from other municipalities as per the instructions of the State Director of Municipal Administrations.

The Commissioner has appealed to the public to cooperate with the secretary teams conducting the survey with rovers starting from March 26, 2025.