More than 15 years after nine out of the fourteen revenue villages in the twin city were surveyed, thousands of occupants are still awaiting property cards for their land which are yet to be tagged with the much-needed city survey (CTS) numbers.
The city survey record for each individual parcel of land has to be created and given a particular number which is termed as a CTS number. Following a notification passed by the state government in 2006, mandating all civic bodies across the state to carry out a survey of all villages and tag properties with CTS numbers, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) appointed a private agency in 2008 to survey all revenue villages and gaothans in its jurisdiction mainly Navghar, Goddev, Kharigaon, Penkarpada, Kashi Versave, Chene, Laxmi Baug, Ghodbunder, Uttan, Chowk, Pali, Dongri and Tarodi.
Survey could not be done for five coastal villages
While the survey of 14 out of the 19 revenue villages was completed, the process failed to take off in five coastal villages namely Uttan, Chowk, Pali, Dongri and Tarodi due to the stiff resistance posed by locals owing to gross misunderstandings. Good sense finally prevailed and a large section of villagers gave their ascent for the survey work in February-2018. “I will coordinate with the authorities to ensure that a city survey of the coastal villages begins as early as possible,” said legislator Geeta Jain.
After extended delays, the office of the land settlement commissioner and director of land records, Pune decided to begin the inspection and validating process of some of the surveyed villages in 2014. Except for Kharigaon in Bhayandar (east), the process of tagging land and allotting property cards in other revenue villages is limited to symbolic take-off.
Inspection and validation processes by zonal officers
However, officials contended that zonal officers deputed for the purpose were conducting inspection and validation processes in other villages. “The civic authorities are planning to hold a meeting with surveyors to begin the process of superimposing the drone survey images of the coastal villages on the cadastral map- a digital form of records that illustrate boundaries of land parcels based on their length, area and direction,” revealed a surveyor requesting anonymity.
Due to the lack of CTS numbers, villagers are not only deprived of official permissions to repair or reconstruct their ancestral homes, but a section of illiterate locals especially those from tribal-dominated areas have become vulnerable targets of land sharks.
