In a significant e-governance move that will put urban Tamil Nadu on a par with rural areas, ‘Natham’ pattas in urban centres will henceforth be computerised.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday ordered computerisation of information on Natham lands in urban areas through outsourcing mode, at a cost of `70 lakh so that computerised Natham pattas could be issued expeditiously.
In rural areas, pattas are being issued through a software ‘Tamil Nilam’ but Natham land records in urban areas have not been computerised. With the CM’s directive, data pertaining to Natham lands in about 1.35 crore sub-divisions would be computerised.
In July 2011, the Chief Minister launched a new scheme for the speedy disposal of patta transfer. All VAOs have been receiving applications for patta transfers on Mondays and orders would be passed after verification of the documents. At present, Fridays are observed as patta transfer days across the State in the taluk offices.
Under the computerisation of land records programme, digitisation of field measurement sketches (FMS) is being carried out using COLLABLAND software in 29 District Survey Offices. A cell with 20 computers and accessories has been created in District Survey Offices for this purpose. So far, of the 53 lakh field measurement sketches, around 14 lakh sketches have been digitised.
Web-based software for online management of land records is being done for easy maintenance of records. All land records will be brought online and taluk officials can log on to the central server to process land records. With a view to help the Firka Surveyors to use the field measurement sketches easily, the Chief Minister has ordered provision of laptops to them.
In the first phase, 75 Firka Surveyors each in Chennai, Tiruchi, Madurai and Coimbatore zones would be given laptops at cost of `83.15 lakh. Further, 1,138 Firka Surveyors engaged with land transactions, patta transfer and land survey and document preparation etc., would be given SIM cards for their mobiles under the Closed User Group system for better communication to carry out official work. The measure would cost an additional expenditure of `13.66 lakh to the exchequer.