• System to start working in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore
• Project to help people verify ownership of plots
• Imran says expat Pakistanis biggest asset of country

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that digitalised land record system would not only eliminate land mafia but also control illegal and haphazard constructions in both urban and rural areas.

Under this system, the old mode of land record keeping — Patwari system — would be digitalised, with Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore to be the first major cities to enforce it.

“Digitisation and cadastral mapping of lands would ensure transparency in record and transactions, and eliminate the besetting issue of land grabbing,” the prime minister said while addressing the launching ceremony of the digitalised land record system and cadastral map of Islamabad.

Ministers, parliamentarians, relevant authorities and media people attended the ceremony.

“It will also curb land record tampering, ensure monitoring of construction through imagery and provide information about land ownership,” the prime minister said. According to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the cadastral mapping project was conceived in accordance with the prime minister’s vision to transform the old system into a modernised digital online system.

The Survey of Pakistan was assigned the task of cadastral mapping.

In the first phase, digitisation of revenue records of three major cities — Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad — and state land data of the country will be carried out.

The prime minister said the project would help people verify ownership of plots which was no less than a transformational initiative.

He said the cadastral mapping of three cities would be digitalised by November this year, while the rest of the country would be covered six months after it.

The prime minister said there were big land-grabbing groups in the country, making huge money through the illegal practice.

He said under the two-phase process, the digitisation of lands and cadastral mapping had been completed in Islamabad and would soon commence in Lahore and Karachi.

“Whereas in the second phase, it would be broadened to other urban areas of the country,” he added.

Referring to the complexities of the past land record system, Mr Khan said common people had to face great hardships after their lands were occupied by the powerful clique who had no regard for the law of the land.

He commended the efforts of the Capital Development Authority and the Survey of Pakistan in completing the survey of lands in Islamabad.

“Under the digital data system, lands worth Rs400 billion were retrieved from the land-grabbing mafia, including Rs300 billion worth of CDA land and the other Rs100 billion of forest land,” he added.

Terming the process ‘transformative’, the prime minister said land record would now be available online.

He said the poor had always suffered at the hands of land grabbers, but thanks to this technology, state land would be protected. “The powerful elements that used to illegally encroach upon land and amass wealth will now fear this modern technology,” he added.

Mr Khan said overseas Pakistanis were the biggest asset of the country and could be wooed to invest here by creating a suitable environment, adding that these technological gadgets could be conduits to facilitate them. The prime minister mentioned that rule of law was vital for economic gains as it was the criteria which also ensured justice.

He regretted that chunks of land belonging to overseas Pakistanis had often been under the illegal occupation of the ‘Qabza group’, adding that about 50 per cent cases in the courts pertained to land issues.

PM Khan maintained that his government was making strenuous efforts for afforestation to tackle the looming issues of global warming and pollution by enhancing forest cover.

Naya Pakistan Housing and Develop­ment Authority (NPHA) Chairman retired Lt Gen Anwar Ali Haider gave an overview of the digitisation and cadastral mapping of lands in Islamabad.

He said with the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) and under the two-phase process, land record in the country would be secured.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2021