RAWALPINDI: On the directives of Punjab government, Punjab Urban Land System Enhancement (Pulse) programme, funded by the World Bank, initiated to digitalise land record in Rawalpindi division and in the first phase, it started work to digitalise mass ownership cases.

Commissioner Aamir Khattak chaired a meeting along with Director General Punjab Land Record Authority Ikramul Haq regarding Pulse programme and partition of the mass ownership Khewats.

He said that the Punjab Urban Land System Enhancement project is the initiative of Government of Punjab in cooperation with the World Bank. He stressed the need to put in all efforts to make project successful, as it will ensure transparency in the land records with digitisation.

He said that our land record is not linked to any kind of measuring geographical map; therefore there was a dire need for innovation and digitization, which will be fulfilled through this project.

“The PULSE project will digitise the land records of urban and remaining rural areas of Punjab. It will also update those rural areas of Punjab whose records have been digitised earlier,” he said.

Apart from this, he said that it will compile a full-scale geographical map of Punjab which will not only reflect the ground situation but also link it with the land records.

He further stated that in this project, land registry will be made a part of record, as land parcel and parcel map will also be issued along with the registry.

Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi Hasan Waqar Cheema, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Nabil Sindhu and Assistant Commissioners and Revenue Officers of all districts participated in this meeting held in Commissioner Office Rawalpindi regarding partition of land of joint Khatajaat/Khewats.

On this occasion, while reviewing the computerized status in Rawalpindi Division, it was informed that, out of the total 266 Mauzas, digitization of 61 is pending, while the remaining 205 Mauzas have been completed.

Commissioner Rawalpindi said that most of the cases in land revenue courts are of mass ownership lands on which hostilities continue for years. “Digitisation of land records will solve these problems, as our aim is to achieve single-owner Khewats at least 80% for switching from Khewat based land record system to Parcel based land record system,” he added.

For public convenience, the Punjab government has abolished all the fees (wanda [bifurcation] fees and transfer fees) applicable on allotment of agricultural land. He said that revenue officers should ensure to meet the given targets.

For effective monitoring in this regard, the assistant commissioner will conduct their performance evaluation on a daily basis while the deputy commissioners must review it in detail at least once a week.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025