New Delhi: In the wake of recent scams such as Sukna, Kandivali, Jodhpur, Srinagar and Pune, the Defence Ministry on Monday reviewed the status of defence land across the country.
In recent times, several scams involving defence land in these places with the alleged involvement of service officers and Defence Estates Officials (DEO) have come to light and CBI
probes have been recommended in some of them.
"A meeting was today held where Director General of Defence Estates (Ashok Kumar Harnal) gave details about steps taken by his department to maintain and update land records," Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju said here.
The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister AK Antony. Raju said the DGDE has also started scanning defence land records which were in "pathetic" state and making their soft
and electronic copies.
He said DGDE has carried out survey in six circles for the actual verification of land available with the defence forces.
With over 15 lakh acres of land under them, defence forces are the largest land owners in the country. A significant chunk of this land is under encroachment.
The defence ministry has also developed a software to keep track of all its land records. Titled 'Rakshabhoomi', the software will maintain status of land usage and encroachments, if any.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 27, 2012, 21:39