How much land does India’s defense forces have? For the first time in 75 years, a comprehensive three-year digital survey, aided by drones and satellites and GPS, is giving us accurate answers.
The Directorate General of Defense Estates has registered 17.99 lakh acres of land as belonging to the Defense Ministry. Of these, 17.78 lakh acres have been mapped in the ongoing survey. Interestingly, there is only 1.61 lakh acres of land within the 62 notified cantonments. The rest (16.38 lakh acres) is spread over 4900 pockets across India, including in hard-to-reach areas. The land outside the cantonments houses various defense establishments, field firing ranges and training areas.
Biggest landlord?
The Government of India is the largest landholder in the country and owns a land nine times the size of Delhi. Within the government, the Ministry of Railways has the most immovable assets, followed by the Ministry of Defence.
survey required
A clear demarcation of defense land and boundary survey and demarcation of boundaries are essential for its conservation and protection of the title of Ministry of Defence.
Also, it greatly helps in updating the land records, maps and helps in preventing encroachment.
This massive exercise to survey India’s nearly 18 lakh acres of defense land so far rests on a time-consuming, manual effort. Keeping in mind the spirit of Digital India, it was decided to leverage emerging technologies to get the work done quickly and accurately.
The revenue departments of various state governments were assisting in this process. This partnership is expected to reduce boundary and legal disputes among stakeholders.
How was the survey done?
Modern survey techniques such as Electronic Total Station (ETS) and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) were used in the survey. To expedite the process, drone imagery and satellite imagery-based surveys were leveraged for reliable, robust and timely results.
Drone imagery based survey technology was used for the first time in Rajasthan. With the help of the Surveyor General of India, an area spread over millions of acres was surveyed in a matter of weeks, which earlier used to take years.
In addition, satellite imagery-based surveys were conducted for the first time for several defense land pockets, especially for large areas of millions of acres.
In collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), 3D modeling techniques have also been introduced for better visualization of defense land in hilly area using Digital Elevation Model (DEM).
Can technology tackle encroachment?
As a part of the survey, a project for real-time change detection system for encroachments has been taken up. A pilot test has been conducted on satellite imagery of defense land pockets received from the National Remote Sensing Center in Hyderabad.
Geo-referenced and digitized size files are made available by the officials of DGDE and MOD to enable quick decision making.
How long will it take?
The survey, the largest such exercise conducted in India, began in October 2018. Out of 17.99 lakh acres, 17.78 lakh acres were surveyed till December 31, 2021, out of which 8.90 lakh acres were surveyed during the last three months. All efforts should be over soon.
The Defense Ministry said in a press statement: “This is a remarkable achievement, as the entire defense land has been surveyed using the latest surveying techniques for the first time since independence.”
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