In a strange case of irony, land owners of over 97,000 land records are dead in the district, while actually, the lands are still being cultivated. Stumbled by these records, the Revenue Department - that has identified them - has now come up with an initiative to update these land records, free of cost.
On one hand, people are struggling to claim land ownership due to confusion between forest and revenue land. On the other, pauti khatas (succession khatas) have not been updated, leaving many of their family members in lurch. People are waiting to get the land officially registered in their names.
Previously, people had to pay a prescribed fee for Pauti khata. Due to reasons like family disputes and disagreements among siblings, many had not submitted applications for pauti khata. As a result, 97,525 records are still in the names of the deceased individual.
Though people are cultivating the land, the land is not officially in their names. This has been causing inconvenience to them - they are unable to access government schemes, raise bank loans, or get any benefits that require legal land ownership.
To address it, the Revenue department has now launched a Pauti Khata drive. As part of it, they identifying the legal heirs at the Gram Panchayat level and initiating the process of updating the land records to the rightful owners’ names, free of cost.
In revenue circles, where village-level restructuring and self-survey work have been completed, the initiative has already begun. The department staff will identify the land records in the names of deceased individuals and track down their legal heirs. “The officials will approach the family members and help them update the records,” according to senior Revenue Department officers.
Deputy Commissioner Meena Nagaraj said “The drive is being conducted in campaign mode, free of cost. Officials will even go door-to-door to help farmers to legalise the lands in their names. People should make use of the opportunity.”
Besides, a separate software has been developed specifically for the purpose. Using the family tree as a base, OTPs (One-Time Passwords) will be obtained via Aadhaar e-KYC and the data will be recorded on the website. If there are multiple heirs, their names will be registered, and OTPs obtained for each to update the record. Farmers can also directly visit the taluk office or the Nadakacheri to get records updated, the officials added.