Dusty files, cloth-covered records make way for sturdy fibre boxes with indexing

Mysore/Mysuru: Have you ever visited a Government office where piles of files and documents are kept in a dingy room?

If you have felt overwhelmed by imagining this dusty room where there is no place to even walk, then you can comprehend the pain of someone who physically visits Government offices to obtain the records of land.

Adequate maintenance of documents requires enormous storage rooms and many officials to keep a check and sort them out. However, the Mysuru Tahsildar’s Office has found a solution for this record room problem by giving a modern touch to the way records are stored, classified and maintained. The land records that were earlier tied in cloth and dumped inside iron shelves are now being stored inside fibre boxes and have been segregated village wise and hobli wise for easy and quicker access. This apart, easy indexing has been enabled so that the files can easily be searched, copied and handed over to the public.

The Taluk Record Room (Abhilekhalaya) is located on 2nd floor of Nazarbad Mini Vidhana Soudha and it is a repository of all land records of Mysuru taluk. Records of all survey numbers are stored here and all of them are root documents (original).

These records are stored in red, yellow and white cloth. Each record covered in cloth has a paper slip pasted on top indicating the hobli, village and the survey number. Whenever, applications are received from the public for a copy of land records, these cloth-covered records are opened and photocopies are made and the records are put back in the same shape.

However, this process was time-consuming and also had a threat of damage. The older the documents get, the more fragile they become. Papers used to get torn and once damaged, it is impossible to get the original records. Also, as most of the records are old, some even dating back to more than 100 years, they are delicate and it is a daunting task to preserve them in shape.

When it comes to maintenance of land records then there should be no scope of loophole since a single mistake on the Government or citizen part can lead to the incurrence of exorbitant losses.

As per the new system launched under the leadership of Tahsildar K.R. Rakshit and RRT Shirastedar Bharat, records are stored in fibre boxes and have been indexed for easy access. 100 boxes have been devoted to the L and D records, land reforms documents have been stored in 80 boxes, ‘anyakrantha’ (alienee) documents in 130 boxes, RRT documents in 60 boxes, ‘Chakra Inam’ files in 15 boxes and 8 boxes have been reserved for burial grounds.

Over 130 Book Binding MR (Mutation Register) that contain 300 registers have been properly arranged and are handled by record keeper C. Mahesh who gives photocopies of the records without any delay whenever a requisition comes.

The Mysuru Taluk has Kasaba, Varuna, Jayapura and Yelwal Hoblis and there are 167 villages. This is for the first time the taluk record room has been modernised, segregated and classified where the public can easily get their records without any hassles. These boxes have specially been procured from New Delhi and this will prevent damage to records.

Land records are essential to reduce any cases of local dispute or litigation. These records also help the Government keep track of crop details, surveys, loan agreements and the implementation of various schemes. Moreover, farmers can prove the ownership, occupancy, irrigation or tax payments associated with a specific plot using land records.