New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS) Senior IAS officers serving as District Magistrates and Collectors will pick up tips on land survey of urban habitations at a two-day workshop in Mussoorie starting on Monday, an official said on Sunday.

The workshop aims to build administrative and technical readiness for the NAKSHA (NAtional geospatial Knowledge-based land Survey of urban HAbitations) programme’s nationwide rollout, said the official in a statement.

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR), in collaboration with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration’s (LBSNAA) B N Yugandhar Centre for Rural Studies (BNYCRS), is holding the “Training cum Workshop on NAKSHA”.

Dr. Bagadi Gautham, Centre Director, BNYCRS, will deliver inaugural addresses, followed by a keynote address from Manoj Joshi, Secretary, DoLR, said the statement.

The training will cover a programme overview by Kunal Satyarthi, Joint Secretary, DoLR. Technical sessions on workflow and data acquisition will be led by S.K. Sinha, Additional Surveyor General of India, with a NAKSHA Web-GIS portal demo by MPSEDC.

A key component involves sharing state-level experiences. Senior officials from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh will present their implementation approaches and best practices.

Sessions on the administrative and legal framework will be led by N. K. Sudhanshu (DG, YASHADA) and S. Chockalingam (CEO, Maharashtra). The workshop concludes with a ground-truthing demo by the Survey of India.

This workshop on October 27 and 28 aims to equip District Magistrates with the necessary skills to manage NAKSHA’s rollout.

Key highlights include a comprehensive overview of NAKSHA’s workflow and ground-truthing, technical training on GIS and modern survey techniques, practical insights on data acquisition, and discussions on the administrative and legal implementation framework.

NAKSHA (NAtional geospatial Knowledge-based land Survey of urban HAbitations) is a one-year pilot programme launched by the DoLR under the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP).

It aims to revolutionise urban land records across 157 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in 27 States and 3 Union Territories, covering over 4484 sq. km and benefiting 1.5 crore-plus citizens.

Using cutting-edge aerial and field survey techniques, NAKSHA is building a comprehensive, GIS-integrated database of urban land parcels.

The initiative is being implemented with the technical support of Survey of India, NICSI, MPSeDC, and five national Centres of Excellence.

With over 600 million people projected to reside in Indian cities by 2031, the need for accurate and accessible urban land records has never been more critical.

NAKSHA plays a pivotal role in addressing this demand by enabling transparent property ownership, streamlining urban planning processes, and supporting better infrastructure development.

It also contributes to enhancing municipal revenue collection, strengthening disaster preparedness and response, and boosting public trust and private investment through reliable, legally certified land data.

–IANS

rch/pgh