Guwahati, Dec 28 (PTI) Drones will be deployed to map unsurveyed inhabited areas in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) as the exercise will enable authorities to modernise its land record system and provide documents to inhabitants for utilising the resource as a financial asset.
An official release said a tripartite MoU to extend SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages And Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) Scheme to BTR was signed among Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), the Assam government, and the Survey of India, on Tuesday.
The agreement was signed by Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, Director of Land Records and Surveys, Assam, Shantanu Gotmare, Principal Secretary, BTC, and Ch. Venkateswara Rao, Director, Assam & Nagaland, GDC, in the presence of several top officials.
The survey by drones will be followed by generation of GIS map to enable detailed spatial database of property with a view to providing property cards to owners for leveraging land as a financial asset, the release said.
Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, emphasised the need for technology-driven mainstreaming of land administration in Sixth Schedule areas and hoped that it would pave the way for bringing all other autonomous councils within the ambit of the scheme.
He also underscored that local customary land laws shall be respected while implementing the project.
Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua said it would be a path-breaking step for clear ownership of land and urged all stakeholders to work in close collaboration.
The principal secretary of BTC, Shantanu Gotmare, said the unsurveyed areas would now be mapped and it would be an impetus to modernise the land record management system in BTR.