Bhubaneswar: The Revenue and Disaster Management Department has undertaken incredible transformative initiatives after the introduction of the 5T Charter & “Mo Sarkar” by the Chief Minister, said Pramila Mallick, Minister, Revenue and Disaster Management.
The Department has taken multiple initiatives to reduce physical interface & minimize the requirement of any visit to Revenue field offices Mallick added.
The Minister informed that the Department provides an array of services, which are completely online except in cases of statutory requirement.
Similarly, in Certificate Services, the timeline under ORTPS Act has been reduced. For example, in the case of the Resident & Income Certificate timeline has been reduced from 15 days to 10 days. The quick delivery of various Miscellaneous & Caste Certificates has been possible due to process re-engineering on the application side, doing away with RI enquiry in certain cases and an efficient online application, the Minister added.
Mallick pointed out that the Department has taken steps to deliver Miscellaneous & Caste certificates free of cost & based on self-declaration.
Approximately, 50 lakh Resident & Income certificates have been delivered on the basis of self-declaration after the introduction of the 5T charter in the last 3 years. The record number of RoRs has been corrected within one day and seven days of Registration of sale/purchase transactions in the last few years. In 2022, approximately, two lakh RoRs have been corrected & sent to Citizens either through speed post or Rajaswa Rath, she added.
She stated that in six components of the Digital India Land Records Modernization Program, 20 districts of Odisha among 75 districts of India have attained more than 99% of its objectives, for which 20 districts will be conferred the platinum award by Union Government.
Virtual Courts have been started in 80 Tahasils since November 2022 & more than, 3,000 cases have been disposed of after hearing through a virtual platform. All the districts have been instructed to start virtual courts in all Tahasils by April 2023, she said.
The Minister stated that the infrastructure of Revenue field offices has been of immense priority to the Department and there has been a budget outlay of Rs 250 Crore to strengthen the infrastructure of Revenue Offices. To strengthen the IT infrastructure of Revenue offices, Rs 59.73 Crore has been provisioned and furniture & fixture in Record Rooms Rs 5 Crore has been provisioned, she added.
Regarding the Hi-Tech survey in the State, Satyabrata Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department said that the Department is expediting Hi-Tech Survey for speedy & accurate land record services. Hi-Tech Survey has been completed in Deogarh district and it is being expedited in Sonepur & Sundargarh district.
In order to mitigate the issues of skilled manpower, Department is working to create more Licensed Surveyors through Skill Development & Technical Education training Department.
Also, Department is planning for the recruitment of manpower through appropriate agencies. Adequate allocation for this purpose has been provisioned.
The Department has instructed all Tahasildars/ Additional Tahasildars to institute 100 mutation cases for column 2 corrections in RoR & 100 partition cases based on mutual consent in every month.
Camp Court is held regularly by all Revenue Officials. To make people aware of the Citizen Centric Services, adequate provisions have been made for Information, Education and Communication.
Through District Revenue Review & review of land acquisition for linear projects, linear projects such as the National Highway, Railways & Irrigation network are fast-tracked.
RFCTLARR Act has been amended to streamline land acquisition without compromising the interests of displaced families.
In land revenue administration a total amount of Rs 1586.72 Crore has been provisioned out of which Rs 1164.71 crore has been provisioned for administrative expenditure & Rs 422.01 Crore has been provisioned for programme expenditure.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Relief Commissioner Nikunjabihari Dhal said that to carry forward the vision of CM for a disaster-resilient Odisha, Disaster Risk Reduction and capacity-building initiatives have been taken up to reduce the vulnerability of people and mitigate the impact of disasters.
Since Super Cyclone in 1999, the State has made long strides towards improving disaster risk management capabilities. The efforts of the State have been recognised by UNISDR for effective coordination and preparedness during cyclones.
With improved preparedness and capacity, the State has been able to manage disasters successfully. In due recognition of our disaster management initiatives, the Government of India has nominated OSDMA for the prestigious Netaji Subas Chandra Bose Aapada Prabandhan Puraskar.
For effective disaster management and risk reduction, Rs 3700.00 Crore has been earmarked in the Budget for the Year 2023-24. This includes funds required for relief & response, recovery & reconstruction, as well as the construction of disaster-resilient infrastructure.
Rs 235.80 crore has been provided for the capacity building of disaster response forces, planning and preparedness activities and capacity building of various stakeholders.
To reduce the impact of disasters, the Government is giving emphasis on disaster-resilient infrastructure. There is a provision of Rs 471.60 crores for taking up structural and non-structural projects like flood resilient roads, flood mitigation measures, strengthening/improvement of lifeline roads, fire/disaster proofing of buildings, cyclone resilient Power Infrastructure and drought proofing measures etc. The budget also provides for technology driven innovative solutions and disaster resilience initiatives.
Amendment of Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, 1964 and Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act 1959 mandates the involvement of PRI members in disaster response, planning and preparedness and capacity-building activities at village and GP levels. They will facilitate the preparation of disaster management plans at village, Block and levels and integrate them with the annual development plan. For such initiatives, more than 1 lakh PRI members will be trained in various aspects of Disaster Management.
To disseminate disaster-related alerts to vulnerable communities in a targeted approach, the 122 alert siren towers installed in 22 coastal blocks will be strengthened and the mobile application “SATARK” will be a single window for the transmission of location-based alerts with a feedback mechanism. For better impact-based forecasting, Government will set up Telemetric Rain gauges, Automated Weather Stations and sensors in various River Systems. These will help us to get precise real-time information for more effective management of disasters.
To strengthen community-driven preparedness, we are training more than 40,000 volunteers at the village and shelter levels. Further, the Government is taking up capacity building of elected representatives, Urban Local Bodies, WSHG members, ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers, and Vana Surakhya Samiti (VSS) members.
Besides, Disaster and Pandemic management is being introduced in the educational curricula of standard 4th to Graduation level with a view to preparing Disaster management Yodhas in every village and household.
The Budget for the year 2023-24 reflects the Government’s committed efforts for enhanced capacity, better preparedness and an improved disaster response system for building Disaster Resilient Odisha.
