VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 11: Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday informed the House that the Jharkhand government has suspended the execution of centrally sponsored pilot project SWAMITVA in Khunti district owing to protest by local residents.
Soren informed this while responding to a question raised by MLA of the CPI (ML) Binod Singh who said that the villagers are opposed to this project as they fear that their land will be grabbed.
“This is an all-India scheme of the central government. I have come to know about the protest and people have some suspicions in their minds. However, in some of the blocks, the drone survey has been completed whereas it was going on in other blocks. We have put the project on hold and we will take further steps after a proper review,” the chief minister said.
Binod Singh in his question said that people are suspicious about the drone survey. “Since governments have been experimenting with so many things in Khunti district, people are suspicious that their land will be grabbed. Khunti is a scheduled area protected under Chhota Nagpur Land Tenancy Act. The project is being opposed in Khunti district, Binod Singh said.
SWAMITVA is a ‘Central Sector Scheme of Village and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Area’ and it was implemented in the Khunti district as a pilot project. A week back, the survey team had to face a protest near the Karo river in Torpa block. People even blocked Ranchi-Simdega Road.
SWAMITVA has been started by the Government of India, which is operated in many states of the country including Khunti district of Jharkhand.
The scheme involves the Survey of India, Panchayati Raj Department, and the Revenue and Land Reforms Department. The scheme is aimed to demarcate the land of rural populated areas with the latest drone method and its Record of Right (ROR) will be prepared. After this survey, property cards will be given to the people. There are around 662,162 villages across the country where the drone survey is proposed so that villagers are given personal rights records.
In some areas in Khunti, people opposed drone surveys stating that consent of the Gram Sabha was not taken and people were kept in the dark.
In the first phase, one lakh people in 763 villages in six states have been given property cards. The second phase (2021-22) covers 20 states including Khunti district of Jharkhand. As per the revenue records, there are 32,620 villages in Jharkhand.
