TN to digitize land records this year

CHENNAI: Revenue land records of all the 206 taluks of Tamil Nadu (TN) will go online by the end of this fiscal. Called the Tamil Nilam or the Computerization of the Land Records (CLR), the fundamental aim of the program was to computerize the alphanumeric data (“A” Register and Chitta) as contained in the village records. It was initiated with 100 percent financial assistance from the Government of India and was launched in Salem district in 1991 as a pilot project.

Today, the project covers all the 29 districts (17246 villages) in the state making available online the “A” Register (land holding details) and Chitta (land ownership details). Thereby, the Tamil Nilam project has transformed the system of manual handling of the land records to that of the data being stored in the computer and the hard copy printout whenever required.

Secondly, under the project, Touch Screen Computer Kiosk (TSCK) have been installed and gone live in 29 model taluks to mark the beginning of increased interface between the public and the Government. According to sources within the Government department, “whatever was conceived under this project will be over by this financial year, except for the maintenance and the continuance of the program.” This financial year will see the installation of the touch screen kiosks in the remaining 177 taluks.

Through the kiosk, the public can directly see all the information on their ‘Patta’ (Record of Rights) by merely inserting two coins of Re one each. They can take extracts of the ‘Patta’ by remitting a nominal fee of Rs 20. In addition to that one can take the birth and death certificate, all information on destitute pension, etc. from the kiosk.

Objective

The basic objective of the CLR scheme is to facilitate easy and effective maintenance of the land records database using computers through:

* Faster processing and modification of existing data

* Tamper proofing of land data to reduce land disputes

* Portability and easy accessibility of data to public

* Quicker delivery of copies to land owners

* Development of Cadastral based land information system

* Integration of data with GIS

Land Records application software has been developed by NIC and has been loaded in the computer supplied to the taluks along with Star Office software and Indoward Tamil software.

Funds

In phase I, Government of India released a sum of Rs 513 lakh for data entry, site preparation and infrastructure development. During phase II, a sum of Rs 714 lakh was released in three stages to equip all the 206 taluks in the state with computer hardware and peripherals and finally Rs 68.36 lakh was allocated for the training the personnel on CLR.

Cadastral Maps

Revenue land records are made up of two sets of data. The alphanumeric data as in the “A” Register and Chitta and the graphical data or the Cadastral maps (Field Measurement Book). The Tamil Nilam project currently covers only the computerization of the alphanumeric data as contained in the village records. Though digitization of the graphical data was never part of the project, according to government sources, it has been added as an extension of the project. Hence, the program of digitization of the cadastral maps was taken up under two pilot projects covering four taluks, namely, Chengleput, Kodavasal, Erode and Gobichettipalayam in three districts under the centrally sponsored scheme. The decision to extend this to other districts is still pending and the State Government has asked the Central Government for funding.

(CNS)