Kerala government resurvey, private lands soon
Though the resurvey project began as early as in 1965, the work is yet to be completed.
Thiruvananthapuram: The state government on Wednesday decided to restart resurvey activities on government lands which was stalled in January 2012.
The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting here. Resurvey activities would be carried out with a definite action plan and completed in a time bound manner, an official release here said.
According to Cabinet decision taken on February 2012 and the GO issued October 30 , 2012, the state’s resurvey activities were to be carried out across government lands and in private lands only on getting specific applications.
Though the resurvey project began as early as in 1965, the work is yet to be completed. It may be recalled that the government was forced to put on hold the resurvey activities in about 1650 villages in 2012 after a flurry of cases flooded the civil courts and special survey adalats conducted during that period.
According to officials, resurvey had been completed in around 900 villages. One of the major hurdles in resurvey was the failure of revenue department to update land documents from time to time. As a result the resurvey carried out in many areas had become completely outdated resulting in disputes over boundary. This is also one of the reasons why government has to now go for a comprehensive resurvey exercise.
Faced with the flurry of disputes related to private land, the government had decided in 2012 to make resurvey mandatory only for government land. The resurvey in private property would be taken up only if there was a specific request from owners.
The resurvey activities had also hit a road block owing to shortage of staff in the department. Most staff members are engaged with various other responsibilities related to collectorates and different wings of revenue department. Officials say at least 25 to 30 staff members were required in each village to complete resurvey activities in a time bound manner.
According to the new plan, the first leg of resurvey would begin in Idukku and Kasargod districts. The two districts have been given priority in view of the large-scale encroachments and pending issues of title deeds.
The government has laid a road map for completing the resurvey activities in all 14 districts in seven phases and within a span of less than four years. The first phase is expected to be completed within six months.
In order to complete the survey in a time bound manner, the revenue department is planning to use Total Statin Theodolite (TST), an electronic optical instrument used for modern surveying. The surveying instrument with a rotating telescope is capable of measuring horizontal and vertical angles of the land.