Question : Digital Data of Land

(a) whether the Railways has the exact data in digital format regarding the ownership of all pieces of land in its possession across the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) if not, whether the Railways proposes to prepare digital data to protect land under encroachment from further encroachment, to free encroached land and for better management of land owned by it;

(c) if so, whether the Railways has any plans to free the land from encroachment and use it for commercial purpose; and

(d) if so, the details in this regard?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)


(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4498 BY SHRI DILESHWAR KAMAIT, SHRIMATI GEETA KORA, SHRI JUGAL KISHORE SHARMA AND SHRIMATI RITI PATHAK TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 30.03.2022 REGARDING DIGITAL DATA OF LAND
(a) to (d): Railway has developed Land Management Module under Track Management System (TMS) Portal having centralized database for land records of Railways i.e. area details, usage details and authenticated land plan. About 95% of total land plans have been uploaded on TMS portal and digitization of land record in Land Management module is a continuous process as railways continues to acquire land for its various projects. Also, Railway has planned to make its entire asset including land & buildings including encroachment details available on IR-Geo Portal.
Railways carry out regular surveys for identifying encroachments and take action for their removal. If the encroachments are of temporary nature (soft encroachments) in the shape of jhuggies, jhopris and squatters, the same are got removed in consultation and with the assistance of Railway Protection Force and local civil authorities. For old encroachments, where party is not amenable to persuasion, action is taken under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 (PPE Act, 1971), as amended from time to time. Actual eviction of unauthorized occupants is carried out with the assistance of State Government and police. The vacant land including the land retrieved from encroachment is utilized for execution of various infrastructural projects of Railways. The vacant land, which is not required by Railways for its immediate operational needs, is utilized in the interim period for commercial development through Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), wherever feasible, in order to mobilize additional financial resources.

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