EDITORIAL
Authorities should address landowners’ concerns before completing NAKSHA exercise
The state government has issued notices calling on all property owners and stakeholders in three urban areas and surrounding villages to establish their legal rights, title and interest in their properties. This is under the NAKSHA pilot project.
The National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations (NAKSHA) pilot project is a Government of India initiative. Currently, NAKSHA covers three zones—Panaji and its surrounding villages, Margao and neighbouring areas, and Cuncolim along with the villages of Veroda and Ambelim.
Officials said that the primary objective is to verify and establish undisputed land ownership. More transparent land records are the official goal, which, from the government’s perspective, can come about by legally defining individual and corporate rights over surveyed lands.
Property owners in Goa have often faced difficulties proving ownership. This is not surprising because land records are fragmented across multiple systems that do not always agree with one another. A sale deed establishes the transfer of property. Yet mutation records (Form I & XIV for surveyed land), city survey records, land registration records, old Portuguese-era documents and municipal records may contain inconsistencies or may not have been updated after inheritance or sale. Many properties also have unclear boundaries. Then there is the case of undocumented family partitions. Missing title documents or overlapping claims add to the confusion. This is particularly the case where land has been passed down through generations without formal succession. Given this reality, owners can sometimes face difficulties defending their ownership. The confused situation has also caused difficulties in selling properties, securing development permissions or obtaining loans.
Some landowners have voiced misgivings over the need to prove their rights. Only time will tell whose perspective is valid in the long run. Citizens’ groups have urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to seek an immediate halt to the surveys. One group cited concerns over the short timeline, stating that verifying more than 43,000 properties in the two municipal areas—Margao and Cuncolim—and surrounding villages in Salcete within 30 days makes the process impractical. The group has also demanded that a review committee be constituted. The authorities could take more time and look into the grievances of the landowners concerned.
Some landowners have expressed concerns that the NAKSHA project could lead to changes in property boundaries, expose long-standing discrepancies in land records, or create complications for inherited or disputed properties. Digital mapping, others fear, might eventually be used to facilitate higher taxes, stricter planning controls or even government action over properties with incomplete documentation. There have been official assurances, though, that the project is solely intended to modernise urban land records.
In Goa, there has also been concern over the inclusion of villages in the pilot survey. Some residents seem concerned that rural areas could be treated as urban. These claims have been denied by the government.
Whatever the case, land has become a crucial issue in Goa because it is a small state with a limited land area facing intense pressure. Once a place known for its out-migration, Goa has changed vastly over the years. Pressure has come from tourism, migration, real estate investment, infrastructure projects and environmental concerns.
Rising property values have made land a major economic asset and also a source of social anxiety. Concern has grown about affordability and whether the next generation will get the land it needs for home and hearth. Land is identity. Yet unclear titles, inheritance disputes and ownership claims only complicate the issue. This is something policy planners will definitely need to take into account.
