Digital survey of farm lands in Telangana from June 11

The State government will soon embark on its ambitious programme of conducting a digital survey of agricultural lands in Telangana to fix their boundaries with geographical coordinates as part of its efforts to find a permanent solution to land disputes in the State.

To begin with, a pilot project will be launched on June 11 in 27 select villages across the State including three villages in the Gajwel Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

The Chief Minister, who held a meeting with representatives of digital survey agencies at Pragathi Bhavan on Wednesday, discussed modalities for the digital survey and its objective to strengthen land records to protect the rights of land owners. He said the Dharani portal was launched to protect the land rights of the poor and the digital survey is part of this objective to make Telangana free of land disputes for future generations.

“This assignment should be executed efficiently as a social service being rendered to farmers rather than as a business proposition,” the Chief Minister told the survey agencies.

Under the pilot project, the survey will be conducted in villages which are free of land disputes, followed by villages with both forest and government lands with disputes. The objective is to gain field experience in surveying villages with and without land disputes, based on which rules and guidelines will be finalised to conduct a full-scale digital survey across the State. After the survey of agricultural lands, the government will take up the exercise in urban lands.

“We have achieved Telangana and are excelling in every sector. Due to the irrigation projects and increased farming activity, land prices have shot up across the State. The State government launched the Dharani portal to protect the lands of people and ended the system of middlemen and corruption. Dharani has overcome the hiccups and is working efficiently, winning appreciation from the common man,” Chandrashekhar Rao observed.

With majority of disputes in villages getting cleared due to upgradation of Dharani, Chandrashekhar Rao said he is confident that the proposed digital survey would be cent per cent successful.

The Chief



Minister discussed with the agencies the guidelines for the survey as well as their action plan for its successful execution. He suggested that state-of-the-art technology be utilised to ensure that there are no disputes over even an inch of land in the State. The onus of completing the survey successfully would be on the survey agencies, and any laxity on their part would attract stringent legal action, he said.

Chandrashekhar Rao wanted them to conduct the survey based on the traditional method of “Tippan Survey”. He suggested that Gram Sabhas be held to create awareness among the people on the survey before conducting it in every village. The State government would extend necessary cooperation through District Collectors, MLAs, and MPs along with other elected representatives and officials.

Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that there has been a qualitative change in land administration over several centuries from the ages of primitive man who commenced farming to the current democratic era. In tune with the changing times, he emphasised the need for the government to update itself and make efforts to protect the rights of people over their land using the latest technology.

The Chief Minister said the GDP in countries which resolved land disputes went up by three-four per cent. Pointing out that successive governments in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh had failed to address land disputes, he said any mistake committed in resolving them would cost future generations very dearly. “For this precise reason, the State government has been correcting the mistakes of the past governments and has stabilised sectors such as irrigation, education and health besides taking up digital survey of lands,” he added.

MP G Ranjit Reddy, MLC and Rythu Bandhu Samithi Chairman Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, MLA Maganti Gopinath, former Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, CMO Principal Secretary S Narsing Rao, CMO Secretaries V Seshadri and Bhoopal Reddy, Principal Secretary for IT Jayesh Ranjan, DGP M Mahender Reddy, Transco and Genco Chairman and Managing Director D Prabhakar Rao, Commissioner of Survey and Land Shashidhar, TSTS MD Venkateswara Rao and representatives of digital survey agencies, attended the meeting.