Defence land data locked in digital brain

“Digitisation of land records is over. We have submitted 100 per cent details required for compilation of land records. We will update records every six months,” said T Arockianathan,defence estates officer,Pune Circle.

As per details on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) website,17 lakh acres across the country are defence land. With 19 Cantonment Boards and 10 Defence Estates Office (DEO) circles under its jurisdiction,the Southern Command is the largest command of the Indian Army in area.

The Pune DEO comprises five cantonments Aurangabad,Pune,Khadki,Dehu Road and Ahmednagar. Pune city itself boasts 2698.1 acres of defence land under seven categories.

The announcement that phase one of the audit will start with the Southern Command was made last month by Defence Minister A K Antony. “In the first phase,DGDE will carry out land audit in the Southern Command in the current financial year. While ensuring defence lands are protected from unauthorised occupation or illegal claims,it is also your responsibility to ensure that no public land is occupied in an unauthorized manner…,” Antony had told defence estates officers.

Recently,the MoD had sanctioned two projects; introduction of modern surveying technology in defence estates and completion of survey of all defence lands in a phased manner. “The DGDE initiated training of defence estates personnel on advanced survey tools including GIS,GPS,scientific survey aid and other such scientific techniques. Two of our sub-divisional officers would be sent for a national training organised at IIT Roorkee between August 22 and September 3. Procurement of new equipment is in the pipeline,” said Arockianathan. A provision for funds would be made under one head (J) in the cantonment budget and would be sent for approval of the GOC-in-C,Southern Command on September 15. Besides,funds would be made available from the Centre. Survey and digitisation of defence land that gained momentum post the Adarsh scam is aimed at making data pertaining to defence land easily retrievable at the click of a button.