Urgent need for revenue dept to move from outdated survey methods: Land resources secretary

New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) There is an urgent need for revenue departments to transition from outdated, tape-based measurements and rough hand-drawn sketches towards latitude/longitude-based digital sketches and GIS-linked registration systems, Manoj Joshi, Secretary in the Department of Land Resources, said on Wednesday.

Joshi was speaking at a national symposium on NAKSHA (National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations) and LandStack organised by the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, here.

According to a statement issued by the ministry, Joshi in his inaugural address emphasised the urgent need to transition the revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based measurements and rough hand-drawn sketches and GIS-linked registration systems.

Modern land mapping is crucial for economic stability, strengthening property markets, and providing clarity and transparency in property records, he said.

Joint Secretary Kunal Satyarthi highlighted that the government is using modern technologies for aerial images.

The use of the Continuously Operating Reference System (CORS) allows surveyors to map 200 properties a day, a process that once took an entire day for a single land parcel, Satyarthi said.

He added that a major exercise across 157 cities is piloting a unified ‘urban property card’, a single authoritative record that integrates registration deeds, municipal tax records, and existing land documents.

Additionally, advanced techniques such as LiDAR and oblique cameras are being deployed across several states to address complex urbanisation and difficult terrains, Satyarthi said.

Shyam Kumar, Director, Land Resources, concluded the session with a call to accelerate the NAKSHA programme's momentum, build modern GIS-based software, and ensure nationwide land data for improved ease of living and doing business, the ministry said. PTI AO ARI