PESHAWAR: The provincial government has expedited the computerisation and digitisation of land records in the province.

In this connection, a meeting of Board of Revenue (BoR) was held with the caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Syed Arshad Hussain Shah.

The meeting took stock of implementation status on the chief minister’s directives issued in the previous meeting and reviewed the progress so far made on the project regarding computerisation and digitisation of land records in the province.

Caretaker Minister for Revenue and Finance Ahmed Rasool Bangash, Caretaker Minister for ST&IT Dr Najeeb Ullah, Senior Member Board of Revenue Ikramullah Khan and other relevant authorities attended the meeting.

Briefing the participants, it was informed that after the chief minister’s notice on slow implementation of the computerisation of land records project, significant improvement has been made in the process of land records computerisation adding that during the last one week, 30 more Mauzas have been operationalised in different districts of the province, and thus, total number of operational Mauzas has increased from 2356 to 2386.

Similarly, the number of manual Mauzas has reduced from 813 to 474 within one week. It was further told that during the last 11 days, a total of 31 Mauzas have been made live which included; 10 Mauzas in Bannu, six Mauzas in Abbottabad, seven in Charsadda, three in Peshawar, three in Kohat and one Mauza each in Swat and Shangla.

Whereas, during the same period, a total of 261 Mauzas have been notified for stoppage of manual mutations which include; 15 Mauzas in Haripur, 10 in Swat, 11 in Shangla, 44 in Bannu, 15 in Peshawar, 159 in DI Khan and seven Mauzas in Battagram.

In order to complete the process of land records computerisation within the minimum possible time, realistic targets have also been set for the deputy commissioners of all districts, whereas “Land Records Computerisation Tracking System” has been put in place on the portal of PMRU in order to monitor the progress on daily basis. The authorities told that in the light of chief minister’s special directives, the teams of BoR paid surprise visits to Kohat, Peshawar, Charsadda, Laki Marwat, DI Khan and Tank.

During the surprise visits, revenue officers/ officials working in the different districts have been suspended for their inefficient and poor performance, and inquiries have also been initiated against them.

It was further informed that all the deputy commissioners have been directed to ensure precautionary measures for the safety of land records and record rooms in their respective tehsils and districts.

The meeting also reviewed the various matters related to Khana-e-kasht.

The chief minister on the occasion, directed the quarters concerned to streamline the whole patwar system including Khana-e-kasht within the stipulated time lines adding that all the stakeholders would have to play their respective role for this purpose.

He made it clear that strict action would be taken against the elements found involved in hindering or obstructing the reforms in patwar system, whereas, officials having efficient performance would be rewarded and encouraged.

The caretaker chief minister also took notice of the record rooms which were set on fire in the past and ordered an inquiry against the officials involved in it.

Syed Arshad Hussain Shah said that there was no room for elements involved in malpractices; strict action would be taken against such elements as per the law. “Computerisation of land records is one of the important goals of the caretaker provincial government, as this initiative once completed, will automatically resolve most of the problems being faced by general public,” he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023