'A milestone in the country': Survey of India lauds Jagan's land survey scheme

Amaravati: India's Central engineering agency Survey of India, which is in charge of mapping and surveying, has lauded Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy for his visionary steps to correct land records in the state.

Speaking at an event organized by the state government at Narasannapeta in Srikakulam district, the agency's director S.V Singh said, "Everyone knows the condition of land records in India. Maps used in villages across the country are not correct. An attempt was made to correct this anomaly in 2002 which was revised again in 2008. But nothing happened on that front."

Andhra Pradesh became the first state in the country to take up the exercise of correcting land records due to the efforts of CM Jagan, he said.

"This is a milestone in the country. This is the first time in India that accurate maps have been prepared at the village level. This model needs to be implemented in other states as well. Many other states have approached us after looking at this and we have started working on it," Singh said.

The YSRCP government has taken the initiative of conducting a mammoth comprehensive re-survey of lands, a first in 100 years. This flagship programme was launched in December 2020 and is expected to be concluded by December 2023. The sole objective of the survey is to provide litigation-free property to people. At first, 10,000 surveyors were appointed. The state government then started using technology for land resurvey programme, including drones, helicopters, GNSS rovers, etc., to identify the land. Due to this, maps have now been made accurate, with a variation of just five cms.

The AP government aims to survey 40 lakh public and private properties in 123 urban areas and 85 lakh public and private properties in 13,371 Gramkantham (village habitations). Additionally, this is the first time that these municipal lands and village sites have been inspected. The project has been undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,000 crores.

So far, the survey has been completed in 7,000 out of 17,000 odd villages. Land registrations of 2,000 villages will be completed by November 2022, then another 4,000 by February 2023, another 6,000 by May, 9,000 by August, 13,000 by October, and 17,584 by December 2023.