Punjab seeks technical and financial assistance for digital survey of land

Chandigarh/New Delhi, September 20, 2912: Bikram Singh Majithia, Revenue Minister, Punjab today apprised the Union Government for the need of more Technical and Financial Assistance to Punjab for the conduction of Digital Survey of Land. 

Representing the Punjab in the conference of Revenue Ministers’ on Modernisation of Land Records presided over by Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, at Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi said that for the Survey of Land, Union Government was providing a mere amount of Rs. 15,000 per square kilometer, which was not enough as many companies has refused to conduct survey. He said that this amount should be increased up to Rs. 50000 per square kilometer. He said that the completion of survey would witness a major reduction in property disputes.

Lauding the role of Jairam Ramesh for introducing modernization of Land Records Program in India, Majtihia apprised the Union Minister about the initiatives taken by the Punjab Government to implement the National Land Record Modernisation Program in true spirit, Majithia said that Punjab is going to put another milestone in this field by introducing online registration of properties. He said that Punjab in collaboration with Microsoft is developing software, which would become operational in a year. 

Majithia informed in the conference that Punjab under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and visionary guidance of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has made the Revenue system more transparent, efficient, responsive and people-friendly by taking various significant measures in the field of Land Reforms. He said that Punjab Government has spent around Rs. 50 crores for revenue reforms including upgrading the basic infrastructure, launching capacity building program, imparting training amongst the officers/employees of Revenue Department.

The Minister said that Punjab has 81 Tehsils and 86 Sub-Tehsils, where we are providing important revenue services under one roof by establishing 167 Fard Kendras in each Tehsil and Sub-Tehsil. He said that more than 21 lakh Fards have been provided through these hi-tech Fard Kendras and it has provided employment between 1300 and 1500 youth in the state. He said that people can get the copy of their jamabandi/fards from these fard kendras within 15 minutes as the revenue records of 12170 villages out of total 13206 have been put on web after getting the records fully validated by the Patwaris (100%), Kanugos (100%), Circle Revenue Officers (25%) and Public. He said that this initiative of SAD-BJP Government was not only facilitating the residents of Punjab but too Punjabi Diaspora.

Majithia also demanded one more NLRM Cell for Punjab to cover the land reforms from all spheres besides imparting training to the revenue officers/employees as it was not possible to train the staff in a single NLRM Cell at State Patwar School, Jalandhar. 

Advocating the need of making Patwaris’ more tech savvy, Mr. Majithia said that patwaris’ were the main pillars of public dealing in Revenue Department and to avail maximum benefit of modernization program, it is need of the hour to make Patwaris more tech savvy. He said that Punjab Government is going to chalk out a special training session for more than 4600 patwaris in the state.

Majtihia also said that modern Sub Registrar Offices is also under construction in Punjab whereas the construction at Ludhiana, Patiala and Bathinda has been completed.