The government has to take immediate measures to save the land record partially destroyed or washed away by the devastating floods across the country as problems of demarcation will crop up when the water recedes in the areas under water. A government official told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that the land record has not been completely computerised in all provinces yet.
It has been computerised in bits and pieces on pilot basis in Punjab/Sindh and most of the land record in KP was still being maintained manually by persons specifically trained for this purpose. In cases where the record has been computerised, its data could be retrieved for buying and selling of property to complete the relevant documents.
According to sources, the land record maintained in flood affected areas of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needs to be preserved to meet the eventualities in any future disaster of this magnitude. The problem which will arise after immediate receding of water is that the demarcation of land holding of a particular individual, erased by the flood water, would be difficult to locate, especially in case of small holding, in all the affected provinces.
This will become 'do or die' situation for the farmers whose livelihood mainly depends on the small peace of land they possess. Before starting the rehabilitation and resettlement process the Revenue Departments have to act promptly to remove these misunderstandings, satisfying the owners.
One of the major problems that will arise in Sindh is that in 'Katcha' area most of the people move from one place to another without having any proper land documents. The government must take it seriously and provide these people some papers to confirm their ownership. However, areas where floods have not hit, it is expected that the land record would be safe. It is important to mention that the record is being manually maintained in most parts of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the basis of demarcation made in the sub-continent centuries ago by a dynamic ruler of his time Sher Shah Suri.