Survey of rural land ownership in Delhi to be started soon

CM Gupta called it a transformative step towards securing property rights for villagers and ending long-standing boundary disputes.

The Delhi government has announced a comprehensive survey of Abadi Deh land, in what, it said, is a move aimed at resolving decades-old ambiguities around land ownership in the Capital’s rural areas.

Survey of rural land ownership in Delhi to be started soon

The initiative, to be carried out under a defined legal and administrative framework, will involve drone-based aerial surveys, ground verification, preparation of digital records, and the eventual issuance of property cards as legal proof of ownership. Officials said the exercise is expected to bring clarity to land titles in rural settlements, strengthen land management and enable residents to access financial services such as bank loans.

“The government has prepared a draft of the Delhi Abadi Deh Survey and Record Management Rules, 2025, to operationalise the Centre’s SVAMITVA Scheme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2020. The draft rules lay down the entire process, from technology-driven surveys and field verification to public objections, dispute redressal and computerisation of records,” Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Friday, while announcing the launch of the initiative.

She called it a transformative step towards securing property rights for villagers and ending long-standing boundary disputes.

According to the government, the survey will be conducted under the supervision of the revenue department, with survey teams and technical agencies jointly mapping Abadi Deh areas, extended Abadi Deh zones, and other notified locations. High-resolution data will be collected through drones and aerial photography to accurately record the location, size and boundaries of individual plots. This data will be supplemented by mandatory ground verification to ensure that the mapped boundaries reflect on-site realities.

In April 2022, Gupta said, the revenue department had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Survey of India, the national mapping agency, to implement the SVAMITVA scheme —central government’s property survey programme— in 48 rural villages of Delhi.

“Drone surveys have so far been completed in 31 villages, while ‘Map 2.0’ has been verified for 25 villages and submitted to the Survey of India for the issuance of geo-referenced land parcel maps and identification numbers,” Gupta added.

As part of the initial phase, Abadi Deh boundaries will be physically demarcated. Survey teams will identify and classify private plots, jointly owned land, roads, lanes, drains, community spaces, religious sites, burial and cremation grounds and government land. Support from municipal bodies, the Delhi Development Authority, and the police will be taken where required to ensure smooth conduct of the exercise, officials said.

The government has also decided to fully computerise Abadi Deh records and create a dedicated digital portal through which residents can access copies of their land records on payment of a prescribed fee. Once the process is completed, property cards will be issued, serving as legal ownership documents.

Abadi Deh refers to the inhabited area of a village, historically excluded from formal revenue records. The absence of documentation has often resulted in disputes and restricted access to institutional finance. Officials said the survey is expected to address these gaps and support planned development of rural areas in the Capital.