Maharashtra begins digitisation of land records for more transparency

The Maharashtra government has started digitisation of land records under the National Land Record Modernisation Programme (NLRMP).

Apart from bringing in transparency, digitisation will provide the government with exact data on the ownership of land, which will help in industrialisation process.

Work progress Digitisation has been started in all 358 talukas of the State, out of which land details of 17 talukas have been placed online while trial runs are under way for the rest. “Once the land records are digitised, people will be able to see details of any land parcel online, provided they have the survey number. They will also be able to see their 7/12 extract (an extract from the land register maintained by the revenue department) online,” Revenue Secretary Manu Kumar Srivastav said. He said people would not have to visit talathis (revenue officials) once the digitisation process is over. “That means they can purchase land, give deeds etc at the click of a button. Mutation entry too will become automatic,” he said.

Srivastav said the administration is conducting trial runs in 341 talukas wherein online data is being compared with the manual data, with technical aspects being looked into and corrections, wherever required, are being carried out.

“People will now know on whose name a particular piece of land is registered and which land parcel is marked as government land,” Srivastav said.

According to another revenue official, the government will have the exact details of land available with it.

“Getting details of the available land will help us give a push to industrialisation and our smart city projects,” the official said. The Centre launched NLRMP in 2008 for digitisation of land records. However, Maharashtra’s record in its implementation is poor with the State utilising only 3.63 per cent of NLRMP funds in 2008-11, according to the audit done by Union Rural Development Ministry in 2012.