Odisha’s E-Governance Initiatives Win Central Accolade, Say Revenue Officers

Bhubaneswar: In order to reach the revenue related services to the people and reduce physical interface, the Odisha government has launched a number of e-governance initiatives which have earned it platinum award from the Centre.

At the senior officers’ conference in Konark on Wednesday, the officers of the Revenue & DM department said many technological interventions have been initiated to reduce physical interface between citizens and government offices after implementation of 5T.

They said mandatory timeline in cases of land record services has been drastically reduced through process reengineering. Sale transaction report flows automatically to tehsil office to institute mutation case and registered sale deed is sent to the doorstep of citizens through Speed Post. In 2022, around two lakh record of rights (RoRs) have been corrected and sent to the people.

In six components of Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme, 20 Odisha districts among 75 districts in India have attained more than 99% of its objectives. For their achievement, 20 districts will be conferred platinum award by Central government, they said.

It was also revealed at the conference that virtual courts have been started recently in 80 tehsils and 3,000 cases disposed after hearing.

The department has expedited Hi-Tech Survey for speedy and accurate land record services. It has been completed in Deogarh district and is gong on in Sonepur and Sundargarh districts.

In order to mitigate the issues of skilled manpower, the department is working to create more licensed surveyors through Skill Development & Technical Education Training department.

The department has issued 50 lakh Resident and Income certificates on the basis of self-declaration in the last 3 years. Mandated timeline has been reduced in Miscellaneous & Caste Certificates through digitization of the process & process re-engineering.

In case of developmental projects, around 6,50,000 families have been sanctioned house site through Vasundhara Scheme and 4,50,000 families have obtained RoRs through Forest Rights Act.

The department has allocated land expeditiously to educational institutions, health institutions, places of religious or cultural significance. Linear projects like National Highway, Railways and Irrigation network have been fast-tracked, while RFCTLARR Act has been amended to streamline land acquisition without compromising the interests of the displaced families.

In order to incentivise industrial activities, a policy has been put in place to either remit or obviate Stamp Duty & Registration Fees, when land is registered in favour of MSME, IT or ITES Units. To sustain ecology, approximately 35,000 acre of land have been reserved for compensatory afforestation.

In order to reduce physical interface between people and government offices, all districts have been instructed to start virtual courts in tehsils by March 2023. All the Tahasils have been instructed to hold regular camp court in each Tahasil preferably 2-3 days a week.

Similarly, the department will introduce online slot booking system in registration offices to reduce waiting time of the applicant and crowding at the offices. More registration offices, RI Circles and villages will also be opened.

In DILRMP, the department proposes linking of Aadhaar with RoR with an approximate cost of Rs 12.5 crore for effective data driven policy making and identification of beneficiaries in various schemes and projects. It would also start digitisation of records of Revenue offices starting with Board of Revenue.