Rajnath Singh launches portal for defence land management

New Delhi, Nov 20 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a portal for defence land management system. The system is expected to bring in transparency, speed and efficiency in dealing with land management. The portal has been integrated with GIS (Geographical Information System) based tools.

 

The portal will improve the decision-making process by removing unnecessary communication between the stakeholders. Defence Land encroachment is considered as the major issue in defence land management. The states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are the three states to have reported highest encroachments on defence lands in the last three years (2017-20). The list is further followed by Assam, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh.

 

The encroachments of defence lands are more common near airfields of Indian Air force. Such encroachments have contributed to 10% fighter jet accidents. Increased urbanization, abandoned airfields and airfields in the vicinity of civil pockets and increase in population are the major reasons of encroachment of defence lands. Defence lands are managed by the Directorate General Defence Estates.

 

Therefore, the Indian Govt is strengthening defence land management system by means of digitisation of land records, demarcation, survey, land audit, verification and inspection under the Cantonment Executive Officers. Almost 80 per cent of the Defence lands are owned by the Indian Army and the remaining others belong to the Air Force, Navy, Ordnance Factory Board and DRDO.