MARGAO
The National Geospatial Knowledge-Based Land Survey (NAKSHA) pilot project in the Margao and Cuncolim municipal areas has received a poor response, with the extended deadline for property owners to submit title documents ending on Monday.
The response remained well below expectations, with only a fraction of property owners submitting documents required to prepare Urban Property Cards.
Land survey officials deployed in both municipal areas were engaged in compiling the collected data ahead of the preparation of the cards.
Despite efforts to distribute forms door-to-door, particularly in Cuncolim, many property owners stayed away from the survey. In Margao, officials said around 1,100 title documents had been received. On Monday alone, around 95 property owners appeared before officials to submit their documents before the exercise ended at 5 pm.
A similar situation prevailed in Cuncolim. Sources said the number of title documents received had barely crossed 800 as of Friday, while officials remained engaged in compiling the survey data.
With around 25,000 survey holdings in the Cuncolim Municipal area, sources said the response from only around 800 to 1,000 property owners indicated that a large number had not participated in the NAKSHA survey.
Sources attributed the poor response partly to the lack of title documents among occupiers of land belonging to the Sociedade Gauncares de Cuncolim e Veroda.
The NAKSHA project aims to facilitate the preparation of Urban Property Cards by integrating land survey and geospatial data. “In fact, nearly 60-70 per cent of the land in Cuncolim belongs to the Sociedade Gauncares de Cuncolim e Veroda. With no proper title documents, including lease deeds, a majority of the occupiers of Sociedade land could not submit their title documents within the stipulated time,” they said.
Few may get Urban Property Cards
With the extended August 31 deadline for property owners to submit their title documents expiring on Monday, sources said only a limited number of property owners may ultimately receive Urban Property Cards, which are the intended outcome of the NAKSHA survey.
As of Monday, land survey officials had prepared draft Urban Property Cards for around 170 properties in the Margao Municipal area, sources said.
The exact number of draft cards prepared for Cuncolim is still being compiled. However, sources indicated that the figure may not exceed 150 at present.
Officials said the exact number of draft Urban Property Cards prepared for properties in the two municipal areas would be known in the coming days once the compilation of survey data is completed.
Following the preparation of the draft Urban Property Cards, the Directorate of Land Survey will issue a public notice, allowing property owners and other stakeholders to scrutinise the draft cards before they are formally issued to the respective owners.
“Members of the public will have the right to scrutinise the draft property cards prepared by the land survey officials and lodge their objections, if any, before the final cards are issued to the owners,” sources said.
