For the first time since independence, Centre surveys 17.78 lakh acres of defence land

Clear demarcation and boundary survey of defence lands and fixing of the boundaries is necessary for protection of the defence land, safeguarding of the title of Defence Ministry

NewsBharati    10-Jan-2022 11:00:38 AM
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New Delhi, Jan 10: For the first time since independence, the Defence Ministry has completed the mammoth survey of 17.78 lakh acres of defence land spread across India in about three years using latest survey technologies, including drones.
 
The Ministry informed in a statement here that modern survey technologies like Electronic Total Station (ETS) and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) were used in the survey, and to further speed up the process, the Drone imagery and Satellite imagery-based survey were leveraged for reliable, robust and time-bound outcomes.
 
Centre surveys 17.78 lakh acre defence land 
 
"For the first time, Drone imagery based survey technology was used for survey of lakhs of acres of defence land in Rajasthan. The entire area was surveyed with the help of Surveyor General of India in a matter of weeks, which earlier used to take years," the Ministry said, adding that 3D Modelling techniques for better visualisation of defence land in hilly area were introduced by uutilising the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), in association with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
 
It's due to the use of latest survey technologies that the survey progressed at a much faster pace, the Ministry said, adding that "Out of 17.78 lakh acres, 8.90 lakh acres was surveyed during the last three months." The Directorate General Defence Estates, under the Ministry of Defence, commenced the Survey of defence land in October, 2018 and completed the task in little over three years.
 
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The Ministry of Defence has said a survey of the total of 17.78 lakh acres of land owned by the ministry has been completed. The entire exercise of survey of about 1.61 lakh acres of defence land inside 62 cantonments and 16.17 lakh acres outside the cantonments has been surveyed using technology. As per the records maintained by Defence Estates Offices, the Ministry of Defence owns large tracts of land measuring about 17.99 lakh acres, out of which around 1.61 lakh acres is situated within the 62 notified cantonments, the Ministry said in the statement.
 
Notably, clear demarcation and boundary survey of defence lands and fixing of the boundaries is necessary for protection of the defence land, safeguarding of the title of Defence Ministry, updation of land records, maps and prevention of encroachments. Terming it as a "remarkable achievement", the Ministry said that for the first time after independence, the entire defence land has been surveyed by using latest survey technology and in a large number of pockets, in association with the Revenue authorities of various state governments.
 
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The magnitude of land holding, location of land in approximately 4,900 pockets across the country, inaccessible terrain in many places and association of various stakeholders makes this survey one of the largest land surveys in the country, the Ministry said. A project for real time change detection system based on the Time series Satellite imagery for detection of encroachments on defence land has also been initiated. Pilot test has been carried out on satellite imageries of defence land pockets procured from National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad.
This mammoth exercise of survey of nearly 18 lakh acres of defence land spread pan India, which hitherto rested on the fulcrum of herculean human efforts, is a unique example of leveraging emerging technologies for land survey in a short time in line with the Central Govt’s emphasis on Digital India. The fact that such an exercise has been conducted after 75 years of Independence, also makes it a part of celebrations under the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahostav.