Mission Lal Lakir: Channi orders drone survey in Chamkaur Sahib

CHANDIGARH: The ‘Mission Lal Lakir’, a Punjab government’s project to empower the village residents by providing them rights of properties they have been living in for generations, has caught the attention of new chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

In the first cabinet meeting he chaired after taking charge, instructions were issued to start drone surveys to be started in from Ropar district’s Chamkaur Sahib, the assembly constituency he represents.

“The CM directed to cover Ropar district on priority,” said an officer who attended the cabinet meeting.

“We will start flying drones over villages in Chamkaur Sahib within a week,” said a senior official, who is part of the mission.

There are at least 200 villages in the constituency along with two municipal towns of Morinda and Chamkaur Sahib.

The project, a part of the central government’s Svamitva (‘Survey of Villages for Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Area) scheme, called Mission Lal Lakir in the state, was launched last year for an integrated property validation solution in rural areas.

It started in Gurdaspur district and is now being taken to 5 more districts.

As per initial plans, the project for giving proprietary rights to dwellers inside ‘lal dora’ was to be expanded to Fazilka, Bathinda, Barnala, Faridkot and Fatehgarh Sahib districts but with the change of guard the expansion plan is being reworked.

It was a long-pending demand of the rural residents to prepare a detailed inventory of all properties within the ‘lal lakir’ and give ownership rights so that villagers can monetise their immovable assets.

The state revenue department has constituted a steering committee led by chief secretary with district-level monitoring committees headed by the deputy commissioners, said mission director Keshav Hingonia.