THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new digital resurvey of land has begun in 15 villages in various districts. Veiloor in Thiruvananthapuram which hosted the trial run became the first village to start the new survey.
“We received the first batch of equipment. The machines and their connectivity were tested and tabs were configured at the directorate. The actual survey began after a trial run at Veiloor,” said a source. The trial run was to check whether the surveyors can easily pull the land-related data on the revenue department’s software RELIS and upload new data on the digital resurvey portal ‘Ente Bhoomi.’
A survey officer at Veiloor said the digital survey was much easier than the previous technique. “It requires less equipment and staff. The landowner can be shown the new map on our tab. An average of 10-21 land parcels could be surveyed in the initial days. The number would definitely go up as the surveyors become well-versed in the machines,” he said.
The first batch of equipment included 50 Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Rover machines, 10 Robotic Total Stations (RTS) and 50 tabs. After Veiloor, surveys began in 14 other villages - one in Thiruvananthapuram and one each in other districts. More villages will be included as and when the remaining equipment is delivered by the vendor.
The preliminary works ahead of the physical survey, most importantly demarcation, are almost complete in the 200 villages selected for the first phase. The demarcation involves cross-matching of details with the revenue and survey departments on each land parcel. This is important since the changes due to change in ownership do not necessarily reflect on the survey department data. The digitisation of records at the revenue and survey departments immensely helped in the cross-matching.
Another ongoing work is the door-step collection of details of each land owner. They include the name and address of the owner, Aadhaar number, phone number, registration document number and previous owner’s name. The public can check this data at the ward-level Survey Sabha meetings.
1,500 surveyors and 3,200 helpers will be hired on a temporary basis for the programme. The ranklist of the surveyors will be published this week and that of helpers next week. Their appointment is linked with the delivery of new machines.