Punjab's new land record project to provide client-responsive services

Land Record Management and Information System (LRMIS) is a Government of Punjab's initiative to transform the Chief Minister's vision of mitigating the sufferings of general public through improving the service delivery and eradication of the malpractices prevalent in government departments.
A Punjab Revenue Department spokesman said here on Saturday that the LRMIS project aims at computerising the existing paper-based land records and improving public access to these records by providing client-responsive services through service centres in each tehsil. According to him, the LRMIS project covered an important milestone by registering the first mutation on a fully automated system in Mauza Kalian of district Kasur, on 28th May 2011. The details of the mutation attested may be seen atwww.punjab-zameen.gov.pk.
The spokesman further said that a mutation, in this system, is likely to be completed in only 50 minutes, spread over two visits, and there are no hidden costs. The applicable government dues are deposited in a bank through a computer-generated challan and the mutations are verified by the Revenue Officer through electronic thumb-impression. He said that the attested mutations are immediately incorporated in the revenue record.
The buyers and sellers are given each a copy of the mutation and copy of the updated Record of the Rights, free of the cost, with the photographs of the buyers printed on their own, the spokesman added. The updated land record is automatically uploaded on line. The computerised system will not only make the ownership record securer but would also guarantee smooth transaction of the ruler properties, thereby reducing the chances of forgery and tax evasion, the spokesman said. He said that the parties, in the provision manual system, had to pay multiple visits to the Revenue Functionaries for the said purpose and there was room for tax evasion and the incorporation of mutation in the revenue record was only possible after four years and that, too, was prone to errors.
The government plan to extend these services to other parts of the province in the next few years. The next service centre, that is planned to be made operational by end of June this is year, is District Hafizabad for which the data entry of the land records is halfway through and the verification of computerised record with paper-based record of the Patwaris is being carried out. It is expected that first fully automated mutation may be attested by the end of June this year, the spokesman added.