In a major move to remove anomalies in land related records, the revenue department of Assam will soon launch a land record purification exercise in the state. The department will carry out verification of available land records to make the documents error-free and integrate the same with Aadhaar number of the pattadars.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on July 12 directed the Revenue & Disaster Management Department to start the exercise as a pilot project and later to expand its implementation throughout the state.
Sonowal issued the direction while going through a presentation of officials of revenue department who visited Vijayawada city of Andhra Pradesh recently to study the revenue management system of the state. The official delegation was led by Minister of State for Revenue and Disaster Management Bhabesh Kalita.
Stating the importance of error-free land records for proper management of land revenue system securing rights of the pattadars, Sonowal asked the department to initiate steps for introducing ‘single patta for single pattadar in single village’ system in the state, which is already in practice in Andhra Pradesh.
The chief minister also directed the department to carry out survey of non-cadastral villages in the state adopting latest technology in a time bound manner.
Taking strong note of public grievance in delay in issue of land related documents beyond stipulated timeframe, the chief minister asked the department to bring into force advanced monitoring of applications submitted at circle offices. He directed to introduce a centralized monitoring system to track the disposal and pendency rate of applications by concerned circles. Moreover, stern steps to ensure better work culture by the officials of circle offices were also suggested by the chief minister.
Further underlining the need for capacity augmentation of circle officers and lot mandals, the chief minister instructed the department to conduct refresher course and orientation programme for them. He also asked the department to immediately notify the transfer policy of lot madals to realize better service delivery.
Keeping in view, that since 1960 fees against several revenue related services have not been reviewed, the chief minister directed the department to examine possible avenues for enhancing land revenue collection in the state. He asked the department to undertake revaluation of the services and introduce online collection of fees.
