VIJAYAWADA: To put an end to tampering of land records, the State government has decided to adopt blockchain technology. The talks with 4-5 companies are at preliminary stages and the government will take a final call after the winter session of the Assembly.In an interview with TNIE, Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Pilli Subash Chandra Bose exuded confidence that the blockchain technology will come in handy for perfect maintenance of land records.
“At present, every one, right from the data entry operator, is changing land records, which ultimately lead to land disputes. But once getting purification of land records and implementing the blockchain technology, it will be impossible to tamper,” he said. Officials from Revenue, CCLA and more officials will be entrusted with the task of monitoring land records.
They will be given separate passwords. If any of the officials make any attempt to tamper with the record, owner of the respective land will get a text message in his/her mobile phone. Immediately after any tampering/modification to his/her land record, the owner can lodge a complaint. As we can find the particular officer, who resorted to tampering/modification, we can proceed further,’’ the minister explained.
Stating that the ongoing exercise of purifying land records will be completed by May 31, 2020, Bose said the government will announce the details in every village and give one month for receiving objections. “In the meantime, we will fix modalities and take up auditing of records from July to September, 2020,” Pilli said. Making it clear that every landowner will be given all the information about the area, survey number and other details of the land in a card resembling an ATM card, he said they are also contemplating to give tamper-proof passbooks on the lines of passports.
House sites
On identification of land for distribution of house sites by Ugadi, he said they have identified 23,000 acres so far and have to identify another 17,000 acres for distribution of over 24 lakh house sites both in rural and urban areas. “Now we are preparing estimates for purchasing the required land. We will submit a report to the Chief Minister so as to get his nod and arrange funds,’’ he said. Admitting that up to 60 per cent of complaints being registered through Spandana are related to revenue department, particularly land disputes, he said once setting right the land records, all such disputes will come to an end. This will also ensure a remarkable drop in legal disputes, he said.
Land survey
The government will take up land resurvey, which would be commenced from Jaggaiahpet in Krishna district within 10 days.The satellite survey with 100 per cent accuracy will cost around `2,000 crore for surveying all the lands in the State. Altogether, lands in the State spread across 3.31 crore acres and all the lands will be resurveyed and land record will be made by village as a unit, he explained.
‘Poor maintenance of records leads to corruption’
On the allegations of corruption against revenue staff, the Deputy CM said: “Though there was a decline in corruption to some extent, I can’t say that everything is alright. The system itself (poor maintenance of records) is the root cause of corruption. Once we purify the records and make them tamper-proof, corruption will be eradicated.’’ Admitting that there was some decline in revenue through stamps and registration, he said public awareness about the self preparation of documents for registration is steadily increasing.