RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government is starting a new land record system, but the revenue record of 460 mouzas (villages) in the district of Rawalpindi is still incomplete.

Upon this, the Board of Revenue (BoR) has written a letter to the deputy commissioner to complete the scanning of ‘Massavi’ (details of land ownership) by January 9, as a team will visit the district headquarters to check it.

According to the letter, the BoR director said Punjab Urban Land System Enhancement project was being conceived for implementation by the board with the assistance of the World Bank (WB) wherein each and every Khasra will be mapped digitally to replace the traditional manual land maintenance method.

BoR is going to develop a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based land repository development exercise.

DC told to complete scanning of land ownership details by Jan 9

For the transition of land records from traditionally maintained manual accounts to the digital format, available data/information of land record is of utmost importance, the letter said.

Most of the scanned Massavi maps record was already available with BoR, but it did not give a complete picture of the district. Therefore, for the collection of the Massavi maps, which need to be scanned, a Mouza level list has to be prepared.

The director asked the land revenue officials to pile the Massavi maps’ stock on office premises so that the team will visit the city for their collection on Jan 9.

According to sources, the government has decided to implement a new land record system in Punjab under which properties will be registered under a property number instead of Khasra, Khyut, Khatuni etc.

They said senior member BoR Zahid Akhtar Zaman, who visited Rawalpindi last month, also informed the district and divisional administration about the nature of the project.

Under the plan, problems faced in the distribution and inheritance of properties will be solved.

The provincial government has also directed to recreate the missing maps and details of ownership of properties.

A senior official of BoR told Dawn that the government wanted to simplify the land revenue system and through digitisation, the record of the land will be maintained properly from first owner to the last.

To end unnecessary delays in disposing of land-related cases, he said, a special cell had been set up in the commissioner’s office for hearing public complaints.

He said the citizens can file cases in the commissioner’s office without bothering to go to Lahore. The facility to hear such cases through video link has also been provided, he said.

Published in Dawn, january 6th, 2023