MARGAO
The ongoing National Geospatial Knowledge-Based Land Survey of Urban Habitations (NAKSHA) survey has left many house and property owners puzzled over why they are being asked to produce a host of ownership-related documents when land survey records have been in the government's custody for decades.
As survey personnel fan out across the Cuncolim municipal area to carry out the NAKSHA exercise, property owners are being asked to furnish several documents to establish ownership of their houses and land. These include a recent photograph, Aadhaar card, Form I & XIV, house tax receipt, sale deed, death certificate, survey notice and the existing survey plan.
For many residents, the demand has triggered a fundamental question: if the Directorate of Land Survey has maintained land survey records for over 50 years, why are those records not being automatically relied upon during the NAKSHA survey?
Homeowners say the existing survey records have stood the test of time and continue to form the basis of land identification. They question whether the original records have been damaged, misplaced or lost, prompting officials to seek fresh documentation from citizens. When these questions are posed to field survey personnel, residents say they receive no satisfactory explanation. Instead, they are advised to take up the matter with senior officials.
The exercise has, therefore, generated wider concerns about the necessity of requiring citizens to repeatedly prove ownership of properties whose survey records are already available with various government departments.
Questions over existing records
A resident of Cuncolim questioned why the Directorate of Land Survey could not simply adopt the existing survey records and make corrections wherever necessary under the NAKSHA project, instead of compelling house and property owners to collect and submit multiple documents.
"If the government already has the land survey records, why should ordinary citizens be made to run from one office to another to obtain documents that are already available with different departments?" the resident asked.
The resident also drew a parallel with the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
"During the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, the names of thousands of Goans were deleted for want of documentation. Will property owners now face a similar situation if they are unable to produce their land records for whatever reason?" he asked.
Many property owners say the documentation process has become both time-consuming and burdensome, with several having to visit multiple government offices to secure copies of documents before the survey teams arrive.
Family disputes complicate process
The survey has also exposed long-pending family property disputes, particularly in cases where ancestral properties continue to remain in the names of deceased parents or grandparents. Joint families are finding themselves in a difficult position as survey officials insist on supporting documents that many are unable to produce because succession formalities remain incomplete.
A case from Cuncolim illustrates the problem. Three brothers, who have been estranged for years, jointly occupy an ancestral property that still stands in the name of their late father. Owing to unresolved family disputes, no succession deed has been executed, and the property has never been transferred to the legal heirs.
With the NAKSHA survey now underway, the brothers have once again been forced to confront the unresolved ownership issues.
"The property is still in our father's name. He passed away many years ago, but because of family disputes, we could never complete the succession process. Now the survey officials are asking us to produce the records, putting us in a difficult situation," one of the brothers said.
This is not an isolated case, with residents saying that numerous ancestral properties across Goa continue to remain in the names of previous generations due to pending succession proceedings, inheritance disputes or unresolved family settlements.
They have urged the government to adopt a more pragmatic approach by relying on existing land survey records already available with government departments and allowing deficiencies, if any, to be rectified during the course of the NAKSHA project, instead of placing the entire burden of documentation on property owners.
