Kolkata: West Bengal land department has embarked on preparing mouza maps across the state, barring Kolkata.
The last time these cadastral maps were prepared was in 1925. In 100 years, the state land pattern has drastically altered with Partition followed by merger and demerger with other states and creation of new districts.
What is a Mauza Map?
Mouza is a land unit prevalent in Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of India. Mouza map is a graphical representation of land divisions and boundaries and is used to record land ownership.
The Directorate of Land Records and Survey informed that the mapping process will involve liberal usage of satellite imagery, geo-tagging cameras, as well as drone paintings. The Department will review the information and consequently draw the final observations for each mouza.
The entire survey will involve three phases. In the first phase, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram districts will be surveyed.
The districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Paschim Bardhaman, Bankura, Purulia, Nadia and Birbhum will come up for satellite imagery in the second phase.
The third phase will involve Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.
Since detailed information about Kolkata is available, it is not being included in the mapping exercise.
There are currently 42,302 mouzas in the state as per the land department records. A total of 68,453 mouza maps will be created, including water-based islands in the state.
The 100-year hiatus has necessitated this mapping action as over this time Bengal was partitioned into West Bengal and East Bengal, parts went to Bihar and Assam, parts came from there too and even princely states got merged.
The population influx has even led to changes like the land while panchayats have come under municipalities and corporations. This has necessitated the mouza mapping to determine the lands that belong to the government and what is privately owned.
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