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State land maps locked in Bihar by Suman K Shrivastava

Eleven years after birth, Jharkhand is still staggering under the oppressive weight of multi-crore land scams — one of the most ignoble pulled off in the capital and the latest unearthed in temple district Deoghar — and it squarely blames Big Brother Bihar for this physical handicap.

As many as 82,000 land maps belonging to the state are gathering dust at the Gulzarbag Printing Press in Patna, leaving ample scope for the mafia to indulge in clandestine acre deals that cannot be dissected in the absence of these documents.

Chief minister Arjun Munda and chief secretary S.K. Chaudhary have shot off letters to their counterparts in the neighbouring state, requesting the maps. State land reforms and revenue minister Mathura Prasad Mahto even travelled to Patna some time ago to resolve the issue, but in vain.

“We have written at least 10 letters to the Bihar government in the past two years alone. The latest was dispatched only two days ago. In fact, the Union government too wrote to Bihar, urging it to hand over the land maps to Jharkhand,” a senior state land reforms and revenue official said.

The Jharkhand government, in its consecutive letters, has referred to Section 42 of the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, which empowers the successor state to take original records and maps. “We will have to move court because we have exhausted administrative channels,” the official added.

Chief secretary Chaudhary admitted the nagging problem, saying there was no logic behind Bihar’s refusal to part with the documents. “The government there is ready to give only photocopies of the land maps, which won’t be of much help to us,” he said. “We are exploring other options. We may have to resolve the issue at the chief minister’s level or move court if talks fail,” he added.

The maps act as reference points while ascertaining the boundary of a dispute or encroached land, explained state information technology secretary Satendra Singh.

“A map is pictorial representation of a land record available with districts. If there is a dispute, one can win the case with land records, but when it comes to taking possession, a map becomes mandatory. Documentation is not complete without maps,” he said.

According to Singh, the absence of original land maps had affected the Centre-sponsored National Land Record Modernisation plan under which documents are digitised.

“We have computerised land records in Jamshedpur and Lohardaga. The Centre has also sanctioned funds for four more districts — Koderma, Pakur, Dumka and Dhanbad — in the current year. But land records alone are inadequate,” he said, adding that the state government had been able to digitise only 8,000 land maps after getting certified copies from Patna.

Singh maintained that the Jharkhand Space Application Centre (JSAC), which has undertaken satellite survey of villages, bridges, culverts, et al, was also unable to demarcate boundaries in absence of original maps.

A land reforms and revenue official expressed fears of more difficulties in days to come. “Jharkhand has cleared the Right to Service Bill, which once enacted will make providing land maps on demand mandatory. We don’t know what we will do then,” he said.

“Had the maps been available and digitised, probe into the Deoghar land scam would have been precise even though the land mafia has destroyed land records,” he pointed out. “Bihar has no use of these maps. At best, it can keep the photocopy of maps of villages along its border with Jharkhand,” the official added.

Speaking to The Telegraph from Patna, Bihar revenue and land reforms minister Ramai Ram feigned ignorance over Jharkhand’s demand. “There is no problem in handing over the land maps. We are working on it. The Jharkhand government has to bear the cost of labour etc. though,” he said.