Srinagar, Jul 21 (KNO): The Central government on Tuesday informed Parliament that drone-based land surveys have been completed in all 4,497 notified villages of Jammu and Kashmir under the SVAMITVA Scheme, with 81,305 property cards prepared across 2,130 villages to facilitate rural property ownership and improve land record management.
In a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, as reported by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that nationwide drone surveys have been completed in over 3.30 lakh villages, while 3.24 crore property cards have been prepared for nearly 1.97 lakh villages under the SVAMITVA Scheme.
The Ministry said that in Jammu and Kashmir, the highest number of property cards has been prepared in Jammu district (27,021), followed by Kathua (13,246), Pulwama (7,655), Samba (7,214) and Doda (6,498). Srinagar recorded 1,951 property cards, while Ganderbal accounted for 902. No property cards have so far been prepared in Anantnag, Bandipora and Baramulla districts.
For Ladakh, the Ministry said drone surveys have been completed in all 232 notified villages. Property cards have been prepared for 225 villages, with 18,788 property cards issued, including 9,831 in Leh and 8,957 in Kargil.
The Ministry, however, said no assessment has been undertaken to measure the reduction in property-related disputes, the time taken for land record verification and registration, or improvements in land administration following implementation of the scheme.
It added that an impact evaluation conducted by IIM Ahmedabad found an increase in bank loans availed against property cards and higher revenue from Gram Panchayat property taxes and other local taxes after implementation of the SVAMITVA Scheme—(KNO)