The Centre has decided to cover all the three autonomous district councils (ADCs) of Meghalaya under the Digital India Land Record Modernization Programme (DIRLMP) to digitise land records.
KHADC EM in-charge Land Teiborlang Pathaw said the programme will be implemented since the customary practices of issuing land documents have been codified by the enactment of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Regulation and Administration of Land) Act 2021.
Informing about a meeting held between the Department of Land Resources under the Ministry of Rural Development and the representatives of the KHADC, JHADC and GHADC in New Delhi today, Pathaw in a statement said the proposal will be finalized and approved tentatively by November 10 and officials from the Ministry will launch the programme in Shillong.
He said the member from GHADC stressed on the role of the autonomous council vis-à-vis the unique land tenure system amongst the three ADCs about the implementation of the programme and the fear of the people.
“Seeing the demerits of the traditional method for issuing land documents we see this as a way forward, keeping in mind the cultural ethos, and sentiments and keeping pace with technology,” he said in a statement. He also stressed the need to sensitize the people to digitizing land records besides capacity-building exercises.
The members from JHADC informed that they had been issuing land-holding certificates for quite some time using GPS technology. The issue before them is the computerization of all records.
The meeting was chaired by Joint Secretary Sonmoni Borah who stressed on creation of a single Project Management Unit account at the state level to link all the autonomous district councils for smooth fund flow.
He also spoke on capacity building and training so that once the project is over the councils will be empowered to function on their own.
Secretary of the Department of Land Resources, Ajay Tirkey expressed the need for all North-eastern states to keep pace with the latest technology for land management.
Several questions were raised and answered during the meeting as a response of a poor land governance system. Tirkey said overall 95 per cent of land has been digitized and the remaining 5 per cent lies in the North-East. He expressed the necessity for all councils to have a modern and vibrant land governance system which would also be a model for the rest of India.
