In a significant development, the UT Estate Office has completed the ground truthing across all five selected villages in the city under the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations (NAKSHA) pilot programme in Chandigarh.
Sectors 2 to 17, excluding Sector 13, and five villages, namely Sarangpur, Kajheri, Burail, Attawa and Palsora, have been selected under the NAKSHA pilot programme being implemented by the Department of Land Resources, Government of India, to digitise and geospatially map urban land records with an aim to eliminate property disputes and enhance urban planning. The project is in its final stages of on-ground implementation, said officials.
Once fully implemented, the NAKSHA project will provide numerous advantages to the citizens of Chandigarh, including comprehensive digital urban land records with GIS-based accuracy, reduction in land disputes and legal ambiguities among other things.
With the vision of “one click, accurate land records, anywhere, anytime,” the NAKSHA initiative guarantees that property information will be accessible, secure and transparent, stated officials.
The programme is being implemented in three phases, Map 1, 2 and 3, under the supervision of a constituted state-level and municipal corporation-level coordination committees.
Map-1 involves drone surveys and creation of a geospatial database. Map-2 contains the field survey and ground verification stage and Map-3, the final stage, to consolidate and operationalise the digital land records, making it accessible for governance and public service delivery.
Officials stated that aerial survey and geospatial mapping activities covering Sectors 2 to 17 (except Sector 13) and Abadi Deh village areas have been successfully completed under Map-1. Under Map-2, all 15 sectors have been surveyed successfully. Of the 6,647 properties, ground truthing and record of rights (RoR) tagging have been completed for 6,642 properties, reflecting a completion rate of 99.92%.
Also, ground truthing has been completed in all five selected villages for the identified properties. A total of 6,369 village properties were taken up under Map-2 activities and ground truthing had been completed for all 6,369 properties, stated officials.
“Overall, 1,280 of the 6,369 village properties have been tagged with RoR out, resulting in an overall RoR completion of approximately 20.1%, while 5,089 properties (79.9%) remain under process,” they added.
Officials associated with the project stated that completion of ground truthing across all selected villages marks a major milestone in the implementation of the NAKSHA pilot programme. The ongoing RoR tagging process is expected to further strengthen the creation of accurate ownership-linked urban land records and geospatial databases.
The project is expected to significantly contribute towards improved urban governance, transparent land administration, efficient municipal planning, reduction in property disputes and enhanced citizen services in Chandigarh, stated the officials.