Hyderabad, Jun 1 (IANS): Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Tuesday held a preliminary meeting with various companies to take up digital land survey in the state.

Seventeen companies participated in the discussion. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to hold a meeting with these companies shortly on the issue.

During the discussion, the Chief Secretary enlisted the views of the companies and the problems encountered by them while taking up similar surveys in other states. The methodology, technology to be adopted, time and cost factor, availability of survey equipment and technical persons, requirement of software, hardware and internet bandwidth were some of the issues which figured in the discussion.

Principal Secretary, Industries, Jayesh Ranjan, Commissioner, Stamps and Registration, Seshadri, Telangana State Technology Services (TSTS) MD Venkateswar Rao, Commissioner Settlements Sashidhar and other officials were present.

The Chief Minister had announced early this year that a comprehensive digital land survey will be undertaken and tenders will be floated for the project soon.

This is the first time in 90 years that a comprehensive land survey will be undertaken in the state. It is expected to not only end disputes but also lead to transparency in the land records.

The Chief Minister asked the officials to invite tenders for a comprehensive digital land survey across the state using geographic coordinate system.

While the total cost of the project is expected to cost around Rs 600 crore, the state government has allocated Rs 400 crore in 2021-22 budget and promised to make the remaining amount available in 2022-23.