Since Independence, the North East has had to put up with a lot of socio-political and economic disturbance because of a range of issues unique to it. Land ownership has historically been one of the region’s foremost sticking points. Mission Basundhara, a flagship scheme launched by the Government of Assam under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, aims to sort this out by securing indigenous populaces their land rights.
A major goal under the Mission is the updation of land records on priority. For this, nine land revenue-related services are being offered online. The Mission is a step towards eliminating middlemen/land brokers and purging their malpractices from the system.
As a precursor to this Mission, nearly 700 land brokers were arrested, although they were released on bail later. Through the online portal of Mission
Basundhara, Gopi Deka and his two brothers from Madanpur village under Kamalpur Revenue Circle were able to register their names in a hassle free manner and their issue was resolved within a month.
“It is a very easy process. Three of us had applied at the Mission Basundhara portal to register our names in land records. Only three documents were needed for registering our request in the portal. Within a month, our issue was solved. This is the beauty of the scheme. It is purely a hassle free drive”, said Deka.
The Basundhara portal has received 8,13,981 applications, out of which all 8,13,981 applications have already been disposed of. Apart from the nine land-related services, a polygon survey has been conducted at 739 out of 766 non-cadastral villages of Assam. Additionally, by December 31, 2023, a re-survey of 186 out of 772 cadastral villages of the State will be conducted using hybrid methodology.
Cadastral surveying is related to the survey and demarcation of land for defining parcels of land for registration, and creation of land records in a land registry. This will enable granting of land rights to indigenous landless people, while paving the way for clearing land titles for citizens. The application period on the portal was from October 2 to December 7, 2021 while the disposal will be done by May 10, 2022.
The scheme has drawn huge response from people across the state with 16,000 applications from Kamalpur Revenue Circle itself. “In my revenue circle, over 16,000 have applied to sort out their respective land related issues in Mission Basundhara portal”, said Parikshit Phukon, Circle Officer, Kamalpur revenue circle in Kamrup district.
