PMO has asked land-owning agencies to launch land census: Govt

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed all the land-owning agencies across country to initiate a census to guage how much property owned by the government is under encroachment.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed all the land-owning agencies across country to initiate a census to guage how much property owned by the government is under encroachment.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed all the land-owning agencies across country to initiate a census to guage how much property owned by the government is under encroachment.(Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

“The government has decided ... to create a centralised data bank of all government lands including that belonging to government controlled statutory authorities and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs),” Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

The land owning agencies have been directed to complete the exercise by April 30, said the Minister of State for Urban Development.

The data will include ownership details, both freehold and leasehold, and permissible land use along with satellite images and mapping, he said.

“The objective of the exercise is to sensitise the government about land resources at its disposal and its optimum utilisation and free it from all type of encroachments, if any,” Singh said.

The minister was responding to query whether the PMO has directed land owning agencies such as Land and Development Office (L&DO), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to initiate land census.