New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS): More than administrative tools, accurate land records are the backbone of socio-economic planning, public service delivery and conflict resolution, the government said on Tuesday.

The Department of Land Resources has sanctioned a pilot programme to create land records in about 130 cities in all the states and UTs within an expected time of one year, to be followed by more phases to complete the exercise in about 4,900 urban local bodies within an expected period of five years.

Minister of State for Rural development, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, said that as rural land records evolved, urban land management must also rise to meet the demand of rapid urbanisation of cities and land administration must keep pace to ensure equitable development.

Over the past decade, India has made significant strides with initiatives such as the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP).

“India has digitised records of rights (RoR) across over 6.25 lakh villages, launched the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN), also known as Bhu-Aadhaar, and created seamless integration between revenue and registration systems,” the minister informed.

Addressing the two-day workshop on modern technologies in survey-resurvey for urban land records in the national capital, the minister emphasised that the country stands at a pivotal moment in urban governance where technology meets opportunity.

“More than tools like drones, aircraft-based survey and satellite imagery offer unparalleled precisions and provide ortho-rectified images (ORI) and geo-referenced maps that are both accurate and truth to the earth surface,” he told the gathering.

Integrating these images into GIS platforms will turn data into actionable insights enabling urban planning real estate development infra structure management, and even disaster preparedness with unprecedented precisions, the minister informed.