With the detection of a few land scams linked to the state revenue department, the state government has expedited its project related to making land records online, setting a deadline of March 2017 for the same. The e-facility will offer an online registration facility and access to land records and certificates.
At present, only residents in rural areas get the 7/12 extracts — land records — online from the government office. The facility would be extended to urban citizens also where they can get all the land records from British period online. The move is important in the backdrop of a land scam allegedly involving former revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who had to resign after discrepancies found in a land purchase deal by his relatives.
“We have so far scanned 27 crore documents across the state. The state government with the help of the Centre has spent '70 crore for the ambitious project and started giving facilities in rural areas like 7/12,” a senior official from the revenue department said.
The initiative was taken to bring transparency in the process of land records, registration and making available the information, he added.
The information about 7/12 is available on Mahabhulekh Online web land records portal of the state government. The portal has compiled district-wise information of the land.
“It is a tough task to scan the information about the lands and connect it with the network and bring it before the public. We have kept March 2017 as our deadline, as the online project had started some time back,” the official added.
The state is also going to conduct a re-survey of all the plots to resolve land disputes, which are huge in numbers.
“The government had conducted a pilot project across 12 villages in Mulshi in Pune district. Now the same project would be extended to six more districts including Pune, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur, Nashik and Raigad,” the official added.
The first land survey was carried out during the British period between 1860 and 1890.
A re-survey was conducted in 1930, after which no comprehensive survey was done for the land records. There were revised surveys after that. But a re-survey will be technically sounder and give accurate information.
“The revenue department is taking help of satellite mapping for the survey. The satellite maps and actual maps would be compared before finalising the records,” another official from the revenue department said. The mammoth task will cost around '250 crore and the Centre will also contribute its share for the same.
