Concerned over recent instances of misuse of defence land, the government on Wednesday said modern technology would be used for survey and management of records. The Director-General of Defence Estates is the custodian of more than 17 lakh acres of land holdings in cantonments and other defence estates.“A few NoCs [No-Objection Certificates] issued in the past by certain local authorities have earned us a bad name; this must be avoided,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the first Performance Appraisal Conference of the Chief Executive Officers of the Cantonment Boards here, a Ministry release said.
Adarsh, Sukna scams
The obvious reference in his speech, read in absentia, was to the Adarsh Housing Society Flats in Mumbai and the earlier controversy over Sukna land allotment in West Bengal.The Minister reiterated that the procedure for issue of the NoC for defence land would be followed strictly according to the policy laid down.All vacant pieces of defence land would be monitored to prevent encroachment. Vacant pieces of defence land, camping grounds and abandoned airfields would be guarded by nearby military units.If this was not possible, sufficient manpower would be placed at the disposal of Defence Estates Officers to look after them.
For managing defence estates more efficiently, the government would introduce modern survey technology and complete survey work, in phases, within three years and then digitise and index land records.
The Minister said a computerisation project to scan, index and microfilm all title records was sanctioned. Thus crucial documents could not only be safely preserved for future but also retrieved easily.
Land audit
Mr. Antony said that based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence he had initiated steps for land audit but cautioned that it should not be reduced to an inter-department fault-finding exercise. It should come up with a proper control and monitoring mechanism to strengthen land management.
Pointing out that the Cantonment Boards had to keep pace with the rapid infrastructure development witnessed in adjoining municipal bodies in the metros and big cities, the Minister said the cash-starved Boards would have to look for alternative sources of revenue generation.
Courtesy : The Hindu
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