Panaji: All existing property titles, boundaries, and official land records remain completely secure and unaffected by the ongoing National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations (NAKSHA) pilot project. With apprehensions swirling about the mapping exercise, the directorate of settlement and land records (DSLR) and Centre’s department of land resources decided to step in with a clarification to address “groundless rumours”.DSLR said that the rights of non-resident landowners and individuals residing abroad are fully safeguarded. “Physical absence during a survey visit does not put a property at risk or impact legal ownership rights. The programme framework integrates multiple verification stages and formally notified public viewing windows to ensure full legal protection for absent owners,” said department officials.Property ownership strictly follows established legal protocols and existing valid land titles, the authorities said, meaning no third party or neighbour can claim a person’s property based on physical presence during a survey.Executed under the national Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme, NAKSHA is a GIS-based urban land parcel mapping initiative designed to enhance town planning, modernise land administration, and optimise public utility layouts.DSLR officials also said NAKSHA is strictly a data-mapping exercise and has no links to land acquisition. “Govt is not taking over private land, nor is the survey designed to increase local property taxes. It simply documents land parcels as they exist on the field, meaning ongoing legal and boundary disputes will remain unaffected and will continue to be managed by the appropriate courts,” said an official.
