Punjab to make digitized land record system operational at 14 missions

LAHORE: The Punjab government is set to make the digitized land record system operational at 14 missions of four countries to facilitate expatriates for online transfer of properties, said Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) Babar Hayat Tarar.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, he said the facility of obtaining online copy of Fard is already available to expats. According to him, the digitization of about 8000 rural revenue centres would be completed by early next year out of which a total of 1057 centres have been digitized so far. Another 3000 centres would be followed in November with another 3000 by January-end to complete the process for digitized access of land record to citizens at their doorsteps, he maintained.

Making an explanation on the digitization process of the set of registers related to land record, he said, the register related to transfer of property has been digitized so far while the remaining one would be automated soon.

Tarar said some 20 mobile centres are functional in the province and another 16 would be added to facilitate veil-observing females, patients and prisoners. Meanwhile, he added, one-window registration at Tehsil level has also started, as both Sub-registrars and tehsildars are registering and transferring properties simultaneously.

The SMBR said the periodical crop inspection (Girdawari) in the province is being carried out actually on ground after a lapse of 50 years. The periodical crop inspection was usually carried out twice a year by the patwari to verify the nature of crop, ownership, and whether people have actual possession of land etc.

It would be helpful in improving the taxation process as the identity card numbers of the cultivators would be recorded for the first time. This data would also be synchronized with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), he said.

He said the gazetteer of the province of Punjab would be completed by 15th of November and a detailed history of districts would be written by academicians, historians and anthropologists.

On the retrieval of state land, he said, a total of 217,000 acres of land has been encroached in the province out of which 187,000 acres have been retrieved so far. He said the Board has also started working on devising master plans of all the major cities of the province. Also, working on the division of the city of Lahore is underway that would be put before the competent authority after completion. He said a massive campaign for the recovery of land revenue is set to be launched soon.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021