Thiruvananthapuram: Buildings in Kerala, including houses, will soon receive new numbers. However, the state government has decided to allow owners to continue accessing various services using their existing building numbers for a temporary period. The necessary facilities will be introduced in the K-SMART application and the official portal that provides services of the Local Self-Government Department, officials said.

“Building owners can click on the Know Your Number option in the application to find their new number by entering the old one,” a government official said. Services can be accessed using both the old and new numbers for the next few months, he added.

The Local Self-Government Department has already begun the process of renumbering 1.56 crore buildings across the state by the end of January. These buildings are spread across 941 panchayats, 87 municipalities and six city corporations, and the renumbering procedures will be carried out by the respective local bodies.

The change in building numbers follows the ward delimitation exercise implemented ahead of the recent local body elections. The State Delimitation Commission, which revised the ward boundaries, had flagged discrepancies in building numbers in its report to the government.