Alleging irregularities in the preparation of new land records using satellite mapping by the Gujarat government, Congress today sought a judicial inquiry from a sitting high court judge and reinstatement of old revenue records to save people from hardships.
Former Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia said the state government initiated mapping under the National Land Records Modernization Programme in 2009 and work has been completed in almost all the villages in Gujarat so far.
He said such "faulty" mapping will eventually lead to "civil war", as it will create enmity between family members, neighbours and brothers.
"The Gujarat government carried out this land survey through a private agency, who have been paid Rs 217 crore till date. However, instead of personally visiting each piece of land to update the records, their men just prepared it by sitting at home," Modhwadia said in a press conference.
"Despite the government's claim that mapping was done using GPS and other advanced tools, the new land mapping conducted on 1.25 crore survey numbers across the state is totally faulty. In the new mapping, one stretch of Jamnagar-Dwarka highway has been shown as a farmland," he alleged.
The Congress leader also shared some of the revenue documents and maps to prove his point. In one such map, a house in a farm has been divided into two with a line and thereby giving ownership of half portion to the neighbouring farmer.
"Due to this faulty mapping methods, land and property belonging to one person is now the property of his neighbour. It will eventually result in a civil war. We want the government to cancel this mapping and take into consideration previous land records to save lakhs of people from knocking the doors of court for justice," Modhwadia added.
"We demand that the government should set up an inquiry commission under a sitting high court judge to investigate the role of the agency, officials and even ministers involved in it. In coming days, we will meet state Governor O P Kohli seeking his intervention in this matter" he added.
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