MARGAO
The figures speak volumes about the poor response to the controversial NAKSHA property survey in the urban areas of Margao and Cuncolim.
Despite the mandatory one-month process, which was subsequently extended by another fortnight, there appears to have been little improvement in the response to the survey.
While the NAKSHA survey had identified around 25,000 survey holdings each in Margao and Cuncolim municipal areas, only a few hundred property owners are now likely to qualify for Urban Property Cards after the submission and verification of title documents.
According to the latest figures available with officials of the Land Survey Department, around 390 draft Urban Property Cards have been prepared for properties within the Margao Municipal Council area. Officials said the number could rise to around 500 if more property owners return to the department with the required title documents.
The response in the Cuncolim Municipal Council area has been even lower. Of the nearly 25,000 survey holdings recorded during the NAKSHA survey, only 238 property owners are currently likely to qualify for Urban Property Cards. Officials said the figure could rise to around 290 if additional owners submit their title documents.
The poor response to the NAKSHA survey has also raised questions over whether property owners who qualify for Urban Property Cards will enjoy any advantage over the thousands who failed to submit their title documents during the survey.
Land Survey Department officials said holders of Urban Property Cards would have an added advantage in terms of establishing their ownership over their properties. However, they clarified that the property owners who have not submitted their title documents would not face any immediate difficulty, as the government would continue to rely on the original land survey records conducted in the 1970s.
Urban Property Card process after notification
Land Survey Department officials deployed for the NAKSHA survey in the Margao and Cuncolim municipal areas said that although draft Urban Property Cards have been prepared, the cards will be placed in the public domain only after the government issues a notification.
Officials said that although the deadline for property owners to submit their title documents ended on August 31, the process of inviting objections to the draft Urban Property Cards is yet to begin.
Sources said that since NAKSHA is a Central government survey project, the agencies entrusted with carrying out the survey will decide when the objections process is to be initiated, following which the government will issue the required public notice.
“We have prepared the draft Urban Property Cards. However, members of the public will have an opportunity to raise objections to the draft cards after the government invites objections through a public notice,” sources said.
Sociedade land casts shadow over NAKSHA property cards
MARGAO: It is an open secret that majority of the land in the Cuncolim Municipal area belongs to the Sociedade Agricola Gauncares de Cuncolim e Veroda.
During the NAKSHA survey, land survey officials recorded around 25,000 survey holdings in the Cuncolim Municipal area. However, only 238 landowners have so far qualified for urban property cards, raising questions over the fate of thousands of occupants living in houses and other structures erected on land owned by the Sociedade Agricola Gauncares de Cuncolim e Veroda.
The ground reality is that a majority of the Sociedade’s land is occupied by houses and other structures, with or without lease deeds. However, such occupants have so far failed to qualify for Urban Property Cards in the absence of confirmation from the Sociedade.
Under the prescribed procedure, the head of the Sociedade is required to confirm the lease deeds and submit a copy of his or her Aadhaar card.
Sources in the land survey department, however, said the Sociedade has so far not provided confirmation to leaseholders during the NAKSHA survey. “Since the Sociedade is the owner of the land in question, the Urban Property Card would have been registered in the name of the body, with the leaseholder recorded as the occupier, subject to the Sociedade confirming the lease deed,” the sources said.
The sources further pointed out that the issue concerns not only leaseholders but also a large number of occupants who may be residing on Sociedade land without any formal lease deed. “We are talking about a situation where occupants are residing on Sociedade property on the basis of lease deeds. There may also be hundreds of houses and other structures that have come up on Sociedade land without any lease deed with the Sociedade,” the sources said.
Land survey officials in the know say that around 70-80 applications were received from occupiers of Sociedade land for the urban property cards, but added that they will be entitled for the cards only in the event the Sociedade head vet the same and submit the Aadhaar card.
