Survey Maps of Property Goes Digital

by SHOMA PATNAIK
Posted on 2008-09-19
"Are you worried about your inheritance back home in Goa?” “Do you need professional help in sorting out your land?” Browse the internet and chances are that you will come across many advertisements like these, directed at overseas Goans. They apparently, have many takers as property matters continue to weigh on Goans, taking up a major portion of their time.
Yet, check out the functioning of the department in charge of Land Surveys and Records. It has really turned hi-tech in functioning these days. Thanks to computerisation, survey maps of properties have all gone digital. Manual issue of maps have been replaced with computer-generated sheets, that are available in no time.
Points out Mr Ajit Talaulikar, superintendent of surveys, “In the past, survey maps were plotted manually by our draughtsmen. It was painstaking work causing a lot of hardship to the staff as well as the public.” He continues, “Now the maps are available in a day’s time. Further, we have put textual as well as graphical data on plots online. It is a big help to Goans settled abroad who have not seen their property in years.”
Talk to the rest of the staff at the department and it turns out that since 2005, the department has succeeded in digitally mapping the entire area of our state. Thus, residents can get to know the size, location and the shape of their property quickly. Further, they are also informed the category of zone that their plot is in.
So, was it difficult getting Goa’s entire land mass digitally traced? “Yes,” puts in Mr Damodar Pednekar, inspector of surveys, before continuing, “when we started, even our own employees thought it would be an impossible task. Moreover, the initial glitches in using the imported software caused a lot of trouble.”
Adds Mr Pednekar, “In plotting land on paper there can be no margin of errors. Even a small fraction of a difference can make a major difference to the land owner. It can also become the point of dispute in the future.” So, the staff devised their own system of working on the digitalisation of data while also outsourcing a major process of the computerisation.
And, what is next on the agenda? Points out Mr Talaulikar, “We want to integrate the textual as well as the graphical data in a new format. It will eliminate the old system of Form I and IIV along with a separate printout of the survey.”
Also in the anvil is the integration of all records at different places viz the four city offices. The aim is to have an automatic updating of the records at the head office whenever any changes are made in the city offices.