Patna, May 22: Revenue and land reforms minister Ramai Ram today said Bihar would soon become the first state in the country where land maps and corresponding records would be available online.

Once the maps and records become available online, people would get land possession certificates from Vasudha centers and use those while applying for loans and other purposes. Vasudha centre is a single-window office for all kinds of services provided by the state government.

“The department has started working on the hybrid land survey of the districts using aerial photography. Global positioning system technology is also being used for ground verification,” Ramai told reporters here.

“The last time a cadastral survey in the state was done was between 1888 and 1915. (Cadastral surveys document boundaries of land ownership). Later, revisional surveys of land records and maps were conducted in districts such as Purnea, Katihar, Kisanganj and Samastipur among others. But such surveys were done by using traditional techniques and require much time and human resources. At the same time, the ownership of land kept on changing. As a result it was difficult to update land records,” he added.

Keeping in mind such hindrances, the minister said, the department decided to use modern technology to revise the land maps and records in the state. “Gurgaon based M/S Albireo Telematics Pvt. Ltd was selected for conducting hybrid land survey in Bihar at the rate of Rs 14,994 per sqkm. The project is being jointly funded by the Government of India as well as the state government on a 50:50 basis. The Centre has sanctioned Rs 570 crore for the project,” he said.

According to sources, the agency has completed aerial photography in Nalanda, Saran, Bhagalpur, Munger and Sheikhpura after getting approval from the civil aviation and defence ministries.