Bihar government halts land survey for 3 months

The Bihar government on Saturday (September 21, 2024) halted the land survey in the State for three months citing problems faced by people in procuring documents. Being carried out after more than 100 years, the drive has been mired by complaints of corruption at the circle office level.

“We have found that people are facing problems in collecting land documents, so the department has decided to give them three months more to get the required documents. A formal letter on the decision will be issued after two days and then the survey would resume,” said Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, Revenue and Land Reforms Department Minister.

“After three months, we will sit with the people concerned to discuss the issue. I have called a meeting with the circle officers and have warned them to maintain transparency or be ready to face action,” he said.

With the Assembly election due next year, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s government started the land survey on August 20 with a deadline to complete it by July 2025. The survey aims to digitise the land records of 45,000 villages.

A high number of land disputes pending before different forums has burdened the State machinery, including the civil courts. The government has appointed nearly 10,000 officials as special survey assistant settlement officers and other officials, including survey amins.

But officials have had problems in decoding old land documents written in the Kaithi script. Sources said very few officials in the State can read the script.

“We are organising a training camp and have called experts from Varanasi. At present, 100 officers are getting trained to read the Kaithi script. We will display the Hindi alphabets of Kaithi so that people can check whether the officials are reading correctly. We will send the Hindi alphabets of Kaithi in every panchayat so that people can read and understand,” Mr. Jaiswal said.

During a high-level meeting on Saturday, the Chief Minister stressed that land-related disputes should be settled timely so that related crime is controlled.

“The land survey will take place because once it is done, 60% of the cases lodged in police stations will get resolved,” Mr. Jaiswal said. “Land records are digitised in West Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, we also want to do it. The land mafia are spreading rumours that the survey will be suspended, that will not happen. Around 52,000 acres of government land is under the illegal possession of land mafia and once the survey is done, the government will get back its land,” the Minister said.