THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala will require 10,500 acres in total to provide minimum three cents to the 3.41 lakh landless families in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
“For this, we are taking steps to settle the cases pending before various land boards,” Pinarayi said. He was inaugurating the mammoth digital resurvey of Kerala on the state’s 66th formation day. The resurvey will cover 93% of revenue villages.
Kerala has around 92.92 lakh families as per the number of ration cards. The CM said around 77 taluk-level land boards in the state are hearing cases pertaining to excess land – around 8,210 acres in total – currently in possession of various individuals.
“The digital resurvey will cover 1,550 of the 1664 revenue villages in Kerala in phases. As many as 200 villages have been included in the first phase of the resurvey. The government’s motto is ‘Land for all, records for all land, all services smart’,” he said. Pinarayi said the pace of resurvey done using conventional methods had been very slow in the state, with only 55% villages covered in 55 years.
“To complete the resurvey using old methods, we will require another 50 years. The digital resurvey plans to cover 1,550 villages in four years. It will also help in preparing accurate documents on land holdings,” he said.
Of the remaining villages out of 1,664, digital resurvey is over in 95 and is going on in 21.Meanwhile, the digital resurvey will also help the government launch a single-window facility for all land-related services offered by the revenue, survey and registration departments, said the CM, adding that the resurvey will also aid in the preparation of a blueprint on land utilisation.
Pinarayi: Clear boundaries, mark them for survey’s success
“People review the government based on the performance of departments like revenue with which they have direct interaction. There have been isolated incidents of government employees not performing as per the expectations of the government and people. Steps will be taken in this regard,” said Pinarayi. He also appealed to the people to do their bit in making the digital resurvey a success.
These included clearing the boundaries of the land in their possession and marking the boundaries. He said a settlement system will be launched after the resurvey to clear disputes over land possession. Presiding over the function, Revenue Minister K Rajan said Kerala will become the first state in the country to conduct total digital resurvey. Speaker A N Shamseer and other ministers attended the event.