Deadline trouble likely for digital land survey

Private agencies will work with govt staff to complete process in five years

The State government is gearing up to launch a digital land survey by engaging private agencies to complement the Survey Department staff. However, completing the process within the five-year deadline set by it would be a daunting task.

The resurvey that began in 1966 had been progressing in fits and starts over 50 years and could cover only 884 (53%) of the 1,664 villages. Revenue authorities are still grappling with a barrage of complaints even in villages where the process has been completed.

Progress till date

The staff deployed for the operations could cover only about 1,000 hectares a year and as per a rough estimation, it would take at least 18 years to cover the remaining villages. It was in this context that a decision was taken to utilise the services of government-approved private agencies and entrust the Survey Department staff for validation. But the fund allocation for the initiative, being launched under the Digital Land Records Modernisation Programme of the Centre, is inadequate and it has been decided to levy fee from the beneficiaries.

The working group of the State Planning Board on land records, in its report to the government, had pointed out that confusion over the priority in survey was a major shortcoming of the process. As per the survey and boundaries rules, priority needs to be attached to demarcation of the government lands first. “This principle has been grossly violated in all the resurveyed villages resulting in the loss of precious government lands in 881 villages,” the report says.

Details in a document

The proposed digital survey is expected to overcome such problems. It has also been proposed to issue a Record of Rights to individuals to avoid disputes over rights and boundaries. An RoR is a document comprising the land parcel number with details of district, taluk, village and plot number, extent and an online geo-referenced sketch.

The working group had mooted a Kerala Land Survey, Settlement and Modernisation of Records Bill and also the constitution of a Land Settlement Authority for issuing the RoRs.

All such procedures have to be completed in a time-bound manner or the government may miss the five-year deadline set for completing the digital survey process, sources said.