SHILLONG, March 12: Apprehensions reigned supreme during the ongoing Budget session of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) on Tuesday after a concerned UDP aired their reservations about the move to digitise the land records in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of the KHADC by implementing Digital India Land Record Modernization Programme (DILRMP) of the Ministry of Land Resources.
Executive Member (EM) in-charge of Land, Teibor Pathaw, however, assured the Opposition UDP that the implementation of the DILRMP programme should not dilute the prevailing land tenure system.
Clarifying that the land document that will be issued under the programme will be meant only for digitisation of the land records, he said the land rights certificate, which will be issued by the KHADC, will continue to be recognised as the legal land document.
Pathaw also informed that during a recent meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Land Resources in the national capital, they had made it clear that the exercise that will be carried under this DILRMP will only be for maintenance of the land record.
He also informed that the members of the Council had, following their return from Delhi, held a meeting with the various traditional heads and presented a proper presentation on the proposal for digitisation of land records.
Stating that the exercise to educate the people about the central programme is still on, Pathaw also claimed that a majority of the people and traditional heads in the Shillong and its adjoining areas have reacted positively to the initiative. “We will now have to start consulting with the people in the rural villages,” he said.
Earlier, during the Question Hour, UDP MDC from Mawthadraishan, Jambor War, had likened the DILRMP to Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) scheme, while contending that the DILRMP may infringe into the existing land tenure system.
He also recalled that the previous Executive Committee had refused to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement SVAMITVA scheme which, under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, was meant for surveying and mapping the rural villages.
He said the DILRMP programme, which the present Executive Committee intends to implement, is very similar to the SVAMITVA scheme.
Echoing similar concern, Leader of Opposition Titosstarwell Chyne said that one of guidelines under the DILRMP programme had mentioned about preparing cadastral maps of each and every village falling under the KHADC to indicate the boundaries of the same.
Chyne also recalled how a similar proposal to carry out cadastral survey of the areas under the KHADC during the 80s had met with severe opposition from the people.
Informing that the opposition to the implementation of the SVAMITVA scheme was because of the alleged intent of Centre to issue land document, he said the guidelines under DILRMP programme also mentions that land document will be issued after the cadastral survey
Meanwhile, replying to a supplementary question of Chyne, Pathaw said they will have to invite tenders for implementation of the programme since they will have to engage private firms with expertise on this field.
He, however, said that they will set a condition that the company should also engage the local people who can communicate better while carrying out the cadastral survey and prepare the mapping.
