NEW DELHI: Struggling to protect its vacant land parcels from encroachment, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has decided to auction small land parcels in densely-populated areas. Officials said data will be put online for public scrutiny by the year-end.
At present, the land-owning agency is compiling data of all the vacant plots under its jurisdiction. "Vacant land near residential areas will be put up for auction for development purpose depending on the land use. This will help in optimal utilization of land and generate revenue," said a senior DDA official.
"For every land parcel, officials will have to take nine photographs of the plot from all directions and of the official who is in charge of the land. The database will also have details like size of the land, extent of encroachment and the legal status," said a DDA official.
To protect its land from encroachment, DDA is planning to use Delhi government's Geographic Information System (GIS) data. "Encroachment has been a pressing concern for long. We are now going to work in coordination with the government's revenue department to use their facility of GIS mapping to check encroachment on our vacant lands," said a senior official.
But before using the GIS facility for accurately marking land coordinates and identifying the extent of encroachment, officials said there is a need to identify vacant plots. The final database will be updated every three months. "This will help us know the exact status of the land. Our aim is to identify large chunks of plots. Through GIS mapping we can monitor the plots," the official said.
At present, the authority has 77,083 acres of land under it, of which close to 13,000 is either encroached or under litigation. Officials admitted that reclaiming its own land has become a herculean task for the authority due to stiff opposition from locals. "There are various types of encroachments by religious bodies, slums dwellers, etc. We can't adopt a common strategy in all the cases," said an official.
The new initiative will help DDA minimise the scale of the problem.
SOURCE: ET Realty.com
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