Corrupt practices of past hindering digitisation: DC
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, October 31 2023:
All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) under the aegis of district administration, Imphal West organised a day-long media sensitisation programme on land revenue at Manipur Press Club here on Tuesday.
The programme was organised as part of the yearlong celebration of AMWJU's golden jubilee.
Imphal West DC Thokchom Kirankumar, AMWJU president Bijoy Kakchingtabam and Editors' Guild Manipur president Khogendra Khomdram attended the programme as chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.
Speaking on the occasion, DC Kirankumar deliberated on basic aspects of land revenue and land records, which entail many confrontations and issues in different parts of the state.
The first land certificates (patta) were issued in 1960.There are several issues like mismatch between the document in government records and land certificates issued to the public.
Some common issues include homestead land showing as state land in official doc ument; size mismatch and loss of official records in fire incidents among others.
In such cases, two situations crop up very often, which are corrupt practice of the then government officials and oversight in record keeping or issuing land certificates.
On the other hand, loss of official records due to various reasons including fire incident is a major issue faced by the department.
The government took up digitisation of land records in order to avoid such situations in future and also to streamline the land record system in future, he said.
Another common issue is allotment of same patta number to multiple plots or allotment of different numbers for the same plot.
When such issues came out in the public domain, media need to exercise caution in reporting because the views of public and department officials are different in such matters as the public lack knowledge of the complex system the department has.
At times, there were instances of honest officials becoming suspect of corrupt practice due to miscommunication or misunderstanding among the public, he said.
Bijoy Kakchingtabam said that AMWJU took up land revenue and land records for the second such sensitisa tion programme of the union considering the importance of the sector, and urged media persons to have better understanding of the issues concerning the sector and strive for better reportage.
In the technical session, ADC Imphal West Dr N Johnson spoke on 'digitisation of land records and land acquisition', and AC to DC Imphal West Kh Lenin spoke on 'Conservation of Paddy Land Wetland Act 2014, and conservation of land' as resource persons.
Later, in the interaction session, ADC Dr N Johnson said that scanning of 6,09,251 land records in 172 villages have been completed for Imphal West district.
Digitisation process for seven village is yet to be completed.
The target was November but it has been deferred due to the ongoing crisis in the state.
However, the district administration is making all out efforts to complete the scanning work by the end of this year.
He also spoke on narrowing of streets in Imphal city area, which is becoming a major cause of concern.
The government had identified 79 streets for widening and renovation.
In most of the cases, land owners encroached over state land resulting in shrinking of the street width.
Land allotment on drainage/ditches through corrupt practice is one of the most common issues that crop up in such cases.
In emergency cases, even the fire tenders are facing difficulties in accessing the site.
Despite knowing the condition, it needs a strong political will to reclaim the encroached land and widen the streets, he said.
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