New Delhi, Dec 6 (PTI) The survey of gram sabha land of urbanised villages in Delhi has been affected by difficulties in availing of revenue records and the shortage of adequate staff members, officials said on Wednesday.
Lt Governor VK Saxena in a recent review meeting had directed revenue officials to ensure the availability of records to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the survey work, a senior government officer said.
Saxena on December 2 launched the Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan for the development of urbanised villages in the national capital with a dedicated fund of more than Rs 800 crore.
Under the ambitious campaign funded and conducted by the DDA, the urbanised villages will get a major infrastructure boost, landscape upgrade and civic services at par with the main city.
The city government's urban development department notified 89 villages as 'urbanised' under the Delhi Development Act in January 2019. Another lot of 79 villages were notified as 'urban' in September 2020.
According to records available, till date, 258 gram sabhas have been vested with the DDA under Section 22(1) of the Delhi Development Act.
However, the DDA has been granted physical possession of only 165 gram sabhas.
In order to ascertain the extent of vacant land and built-up space, the DDA is carrying out total station surveys of the gram sabha land of villages.
Total station is an optical device used for land surveys.
The city government's revenue department is verifying the surveys, the officials said.
Till date, surveys have been done in 122 villages. However, reference points had not been marked earlier and it is under process.
"Non availability of proper revenue records such as Masabi and Khatauni, among others, along with the (shortage of) staff, is posing problems in the surveys," said a senior government officer.
A revised survey schedule has been issued to complete the process in the remaining villages by February and revenue staff have been directed to ensure their availability for the purpose, and provide the land records to the DDA, said the officer.