Rs 7.87 cr and 15 years later, resurvey plans yet to be notified

MARGAO: The government in 2004 had ordered the resurvey of the entire State, but 15 years later, the survey plans of nearly half the villages in the State are yet to be notified. The talukas where all villages have been notified are Mormugao, Tiswadi, Ponda and Bardez

The State spent Rs 7,87,78,070 (Rs 7.87cr) for the resurvey carried out by Theovel Surveys, Bangalore. The physical survey work has been completed in all 12 talukas and officials claim that the work of preparation of updated resurvey maps was completed by 2016. The reality, however, is that the plans are not entirely accurate and reliable.

“When someone asks for a plan of a village of Tiswadi, they write on the plan that it is for reference only,” said an official from the Land Survey Department. He said there are mistakes in the plans, which is why they don’t want to notify it. “People’s houses are shown in some other survey number. Some roads are shown over people’s houses. The layout of the structures and roads are not superimposed properly,” he added.

The official said that the firm followed a different system from that followed by surveyors in Goa. “They have not used the old station points installed by the Portuguese as reference points which were very accurate, even though the survey was done manually. They have superimposed the structures using compound walls and corners of the house as boundary references which are inconsistent,” he said.

The company itself faced a lot of problems during the survey. In a letter from Theovel to the Survey Department, they had said that the surveyors found houses locked. They were delayed while waiting for caretakers to open the properties in the absence of the owners. Many areas had developed rapidly, while other areas were not approachable due to absence of roads and surrounding hills and forests. They also faced severe water shortage and power failure in parts of Sattari, 

Sanguem and Canacona because of which they were idle for days while waiting for their equipment batteries to recharge.

Theovel had to complete the survey works in May 2011, however, they were given extensions and there were no quality control checks on their work, sources said. The company had to map not just the changes and new features on the ground but also the underground attributes such as drainage, sewage, cable networks which have not been done.

Another officer alleged that there were agents who charged people to draw structures on the plans which don’t exist on the ground so that they can be constructed later and shown as existing structures. One such nonexistent massive structure was shown on the Baga plateau in the survey plan. When the locals objected in 2016, the structure was erased from the plan.

Dominic Noronha, who obtained the documents related to the re-survey said the government should have notified the plans and used it in the resurvey. “There with so many mistakes and therefore corrections to be made but Revenue Department is not interested. The Regional Plans are flawed because they are using outdated plans which don’t show the roads and newer structures, when instead they should have been using these latest plans,” he said.