You all know the price of land in India particularly in the metro’s .Isn’t it phenomenally high? In India isn’t land encroachment and land grabbing a common phenomenon? .Let us consider the city of Bangalore. A few years back the real estate mafia had grabbed even landfills. An area of 53 acres costing Crores of rupees was encroached upon. At least 35000 acres of land has been encroached upon such as government land, agricultural land, garbage land and even lakes. Even Lakes… You Must Be Shocked? .You must have heard of the Kadugodi Lake at Whitefield. This lake has a huge catchment area which is encroached upon .The water from this lake is extracted ,filled in tankers and sold to the residents of Whitefield at about INR 2000 per tanker. A new compound and a building have come up in the catchment area of the Kadugodi Lake .The water mafia has dug up a number of bore wells on the lakebed to extract water. Planting of Eucalyptus trees is done by these mafias in the catchment area’s whose roots suck up the water and turn the land barren. This land is then sold to commercial establishments. A number of concerned citizens have joined together and raised awareness about this problem. “Save Our Lakes Campaign” was launched by the esteemed citizens of Bangalore in order to protect the Kadugodi Lake and other lakes of Bangalore

Land Disputes And Land Grabbing: A Common Occurrence In Bangalore:

Let us consider the following case which had occurred in Bangalore a few months back .A J P Nagar Resident had relinquished his land for the Bangalore Metro Project. This property was part of the Bangalore Development Authority Layout and was measured at 1500 square foot .The city survey department then surveyed the land and measured it as 1530 square feet. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board agreed to compensate him for the excess land provided he got the BDA approval. We have the famous Balasubramanian report of the Karnataka task force for recovery and protection of public land, the “Laughing Waters” residential complex at Whitefield was built on 40 acres of stolen Government land with the original grant given for a Chicory plant. Similarly there are a number of cases in Bangalore where accurate land records do not exist. This leads to disputes of ownership and property.

A Stitch In Time Saves Nine:

In order to resolve the land encroachment problem the government has a grand plan to start surveying and creating records for all properties in Bangalore. The Urban Property Ownership Records are being implemented in Bangalore and the project will start at the beginning of next year. The Department of Survey, Settlements and Land Records will be in charge of this project. Under the UPOR each property will be surveyed, the records verified and the owner will be issued a property records card. A unique Plot ID will be assigned to each property .It will have details such as Plot area, Owner’s name, Mortgage Details, History Of Transactions, and an Overview map. Unlike the khatha and sale deed which are documents of property tax and registration, the Property Registration Card will establish the title to the property and is a solid document to establish ownership of the land.

How Will The Property Registration Card Work?

·         This card will have details of the Property liabilities, The property map, The property boundary, Details on the lease deed and so on. This project will be completed in about 3 years and about 16 Lakh properties will be registered. There would be disputes with about 30% of the cases .The remaining 70% will be issued the Property Registration Card.

·         The property card issuing process will involve leading banks so that the liability status of the property is up to date.

·         All the property data is computerized and this helps to eliminate fraud.

·         We have noticed rapid urbanization and development of the rural land areas in Bangalore. All villages on the border of the city are being converted to urban lands. This leads to confusion in property demarcation and boundary mapping. A property registration card will provide owners of all properties in the city a clear boundary demarcation of land and eliminate frauds.

·         Once this UPOR is in place no registration process can be done without handing over or showing the Property Registration Card. All details are available pertaining to the land in the property registration card. If the property is in an area where agricultural land has been used for non agricultural purposes without obtaining land conversion permission the PR card is still issued but the remarks section will mention the violation of the land. Nothing can be hidden from the buyer.

·         To get the property registration card the owner must provide the khatha (tax certificate) issued by the local body, Registration certificate issued by the Registration Department, Title deeds and other documents necessary during the Property Registration and Verification process in order to get the PR card. Those who do not have the necessary documentation will not get the PR cards.

·         Property Owners can buy cards at INR 400-500 depending on the size of the property. Houses in slum areas may be charged around INR 250 and high end areas an amount of INR 600.

The Bhoomi Project:

The Bhoomi project is the land record management project of Karnataka. This project is jointly sponsored by the State Government of Karnataka, Government of India, and the Ministry Of Rural Development. The project involves computerization of land records. This project has computerized 20 Million records of land ownership of 6.7 Million farmers in the State .Farmers can track and access this database and know the status of their land .The Rights, Tenancy and Crop Inspection Register can be obtained online by providing the name of the owner or plot number at the computerized land record kiosks in the 177 Taluk Offices for a fee of INR 15.If the revenue inspector does not complete the registration process within 45 days the farmer can approach a senior officer.

Important Features Of The Bhoomi Project:

·         An Excellent Software is available for printing records of land ownership.

·         Real time updating of RTC records keeps farmers updated on the position of their agricultural land.

·         A Biometric system for farmer land record data registration and updation is available mainly using fingerprint data.

·         The original records are scanned and the signatures of the Revenue Inspector are recorded and responsibility is fixed on the concerned Revenue Inspector not only by showing the original documents signed by him but a digital copy is also maintained.

·         Based on this software the topography of the land, land size, type of soils, types of crops grown is recorded and real time information is available for the administrators to take the necessary decisions.

·         We have computer centers where land mutation mainly records pertaining to transfer of title deeds to the buyer is done in an online fashion. We have finger print recording and scanning of the relevant documents.

·         We have land record kiosk from where the farmers can collect the relevant data by paying INR 15.Farmers can see their land related information without anybody’s aid or assistance.

The Role Of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike:

·         The BBMP has developed a GIS (Geographic Information System) Based property tax system in the BBMP Jurisdiction area.

·         BBMP has provided a unique Property Identification Number (PID) to each and every property in Bangalore.

·         A unique street number has been assigned to each and every street.

·         BBMP has launched a web based search engine which will provide the PID for each property.

·         Updated systems to calculate property tax.

·         A khatha registration system has been implemented.

·         Online scanning and storing of Documents to maintain the authenticity of the certificates.

I would like to end this article with the famous saying” If Men Were Angels No Government Would Be Necessary”. You know that this is not true. Any opportunity to usurp land is taken with both hands. Wouldn’t it be prudent if we protect and safeguard our property using these online systems which the government has provided? So what are we waiting for? Let us get moving towards protecting our loved and prized land assets.