Gurgaon is being mapped through satellite imagery and this will be used to generate real-time data on land records and establish a linkage between the revenue and the registration departments.
Satellite imagery of Gurgaon will be ready in 2012.The project of preparing satellite imageries of the entire Gurgaon district will also be completed this year.Earlier the deadline was end-March,but the work is still on and it will be ready by the year end.
This will have many benefits.Surinder Kumar of the department of land resources says: "Currently,the revenue records are not in a good shape.But,now,we are creating maps by satellite imagery,which will all be digitized.This will be linked to information on ownership of each and every land parcel,sale-purchase,acquisition,and all this information will be available at the click of a mouse.We will host the completed base map on our portal shortly."
Currently there is certain amount of ambiguity on the issue of land ownership.But with the satellite imagery of Gurgaon,there will be real time data on land records and a linkage between revenue and registration department will be created.This means,even as a transaction is taking place,the land ownership details will get updated.Historic information on who owned the land parcel and how the ownership changed hands over generations,for instance,will also be available.
Property ownership details change with the process of inheritance,gifting of property,etc;since each of these requires registration,these changes will get reflected in the digitized district map.Lease deeds,in some cases,are also being registered and it will be possible to view the tenant and landlord details,at the click of a mouse as well.
"After the completion of the satellite imagery of Gurgaon,it will be uploaded on the website.The "nishandehi" (demarcation) has been done and it could be compared with the actual revenue records.At present,revenue records after 1960 are being taken up and about 70% of the imagery work has already been completed,"Surinder Kumar says.
Madhu Nair,a Geographic Information System (GIS) expert,says: "To efficiently administer the property rights and data across a region's vast landscape,the authorities like to create a base map of land properties.The base map generally has multiple data layers like high-resolution imagery,details on type of ownership,permits,licences,rights,restrictions,transactions and taxation and some topographic features like natural features representing boundaries."
It will also be an answer to land acquisition issues,to some extent.The satellite imagery work will help identify green patches and land that has been encroached upon.
At present,according to the land department,56,000 mutations are yet to be entered.The district administration has been organizing special camps at tehsil level for clearing those pending mutations.
This exercise will help facilitate in having citizen-centric records online.This will enable property owners to secure authentic records of their properties with geographic reference.It can lead to better revenue generation.A senior bureaucrat gives the example of how the city of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh benefited from the GIS system.At first,the local body was not able to maintain the data for Mirzapur due to lack of funds.
Then a foreign national,who was part of the Ganga action plan,went to the municipal board chairman and asked to see the register of properties.The register was last updated 10 years ago! The properties that were mutated since then were not even registered there.This person then helped the municipal board to introduce the GIS system and number it wardwise.
