THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pattaya Mission, a mega programme that will have a qualitative effect on the lives of lakhs of people in the state, will be officially rolled out in the next few days.
The mission is aimed at issuing title deeds to those who own land without proper records. As part of the mission, land will be distributed to landless people. It will also remove all legal and technical hurdles being faced by people who want to own a piece of land in their lifetime. An order in this regard will be issued in the coming days. A state-level review committee under revenue department additional chief secretary will be formed to coordinate activities of the Pattaya Mission with the secretaries of forest, local self-government, irrigation and PWD as members.
At the land revenue commissionerate, a committee will be formed under the land revenue commissioner to supervise the distribution of title deeds and land to eligible persons. District collectors and tahsildars will head the committees at the collectorate and taluk level. At the village level, a committee with people’s representatives and representatives of political parties as members will be in charge of the distribution of title deeds. In February, TNIE had reported about the government’s initiative to issue title deeds.
According to the revenue department, there are lakhs of people who have lands but no title deeds to claim ownership. Most of these lands are revenue lands in municipalities and villages. People also reside on lands occupied by forest, irrigation, local self- government and public works department. However, they also don’t have valid title papers to prove ownership. In most cases, the interpretation of the 1964 Kerala Land Assignment Rules poses problems in claiming ownership.
AIMS TO PROVIDE EXTRA 50K TITLE DEEDS BY MAY
Revenue lands were assigned under the 1964 Land Assignment Rules, while those who had encroached on forest land before 1971 were assigned land under the 1993 Forest Land Assignment Rules. The state government has already assigned title deeds to 53,500 people. By May 2023, it intends to give an additional 50,000 title deeds