3 lakh survey applications await clearance due to staff shortage in Karnataka

Close to three lakh applications for land survey are pending with the Department of Survey, Settlement and Land Records, with the public having to wait for anywhere between two to four months for their applications to be processed, government data shows.

Reflecting a shortage of surveyors and work pressure on the existing ones, there are 2.89 lakh applications pending for survey as of August 31, 2023, according to data available with the department. With 4,590 surveyors including government surveyors and licensed surveyors, there’s roughly about 63 applications pending per surveyor. 

Shivamogga, Bengaluru Rural and Dharwad have the highest waiting time with an estimated four months of waiting period per application.

Tumakuru has the highest number of pending applications (20,609), followed by Belagavi (19,198), Ramanagar (14,529) and Haveri (14,351).

The department receives about one lakh applications each month, with the staff disposing of more than what they receive every month, department officials said. 

In addition to applications from the public, surveyors also take up the survey of lakes, land under litigation, temples under Muzrai department, survey related to storm water drain encroachment and other such work, adding to their work pressure. 

A government surveyor employed with the department explained their situation: "The Survey department is the mother department. For, any public work such as construction of roads, it must begin with a survey and sketch. The target given to us at present is to do 30 surveys per month. With such work pressure, errors are bound to creep into land records. Eventually, the public will have to spend time and money to get it rectified," the employee said.

Also, while land holdings are smaller in South Karnataka, there are large parcels of land in the North, which take time. "Even if it is 10 acres, it is still considered as one application," explained J Manjumath, Commissioner, SSLR Department. 

He said several measures were being taken to reduce the work pressure and speed up the application process in the department. The department is in the process of recruiting staff.

"We will rationalise staff within a district to distribute more surveyors to taluks with higher pending applications," he said. 

The department is in the process of recruiting 2,000 licensed surveyors, the candidates’ list for which has already been announced and those selected are expected to be fully trained by December this year.

That apart, 364 government surveyors will also be recruited soon, the official added, expressing optimism that these measures would bring down the pendency by a great extent over the next few months.