The acquisition of land was done manually before the year 2018. The data files were moved physically that led to the occurrence of some limitations. This included delay in issuing notice, errors in land details, etc.

To overcome the issues, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways came up with a system. It is known as “Bhoomi Rashi”. The portal came into force since 1st April 2018.

The system is digital and automates the whole land acquisition (LA) process. It made and still makes the LA process more transparent and error-free. The portal processes the notices at every stage on a real-time basis.

Let’s read what land acquisition is.

Land Acquisition

Land acquisition is crucial to initiate and complete the construction of NH. This construction begins only when there is an approval of alignment and LA plan for a particular project.

The procedure for land acquisition begins with the appointment of the revenue functionary. It is of the State Government and works for every NH Project as “Competent Authority for Land Acquisition”. The implementing authority ends the project by taking the land’s physical ownership. They disburse the allowance to each interested party.

There are numerous stake-holders involved in the land Acquisition process. They are as follows:

1. State PWDs –

Prepare the DPRs based on the acquired land.

2. State Revenue officials –

Accomplish the real acquisition of the land.

3. Ministries’ project zones –

Take approval from the Minister of Competent Authority, and

4. Notices –

It is for Land Acquisition.

Features of Bhoomi Rashi

The system’s broad features are as follows:

Project Scope:

• Interface for processing and objections
• Bilingual app for easy usage
• Interface preparation for LA locations
• Interface for Land info
• Generation of web service to get payment status
• Validation of payee from PFMS
• Network for report generation
• Interface for interested parties and land-owners
• Interface preparation to add basic details of the project
• Formation of interface for CALA info
• Interface to generate 3a, 3D & 3A notice
• Finalization and allowance confirmation interface
• Interface to generate LA notice

Security:

The portal system is secured in a complete way. It has an OTP based security which is provided at every stage.

Alerts:

The design of the portal provides real-time and regular notice on:

• Proposal submission
• Generation of login proofs
• Payments
• Allowance finalization by RO, NHAI, etc

Master Data:

The admin will incorporate and update the data for 711 districts and 6,55,297 villages. It will be regulated by him/her from time to time.

• Villages- Every sub district with details of villages
• Sub Districts/ Taluka/Tehsil- Each district with sub districts reports
• Districts- Detail of India’s district under each state
• States- Details of all states of India
• Login proof- It is for PWD officers of the state
• Login identity- This is for all regional offices of NHAI, MoRTH & NHIDCL

Language:

• The system will convert the data entry from English to Hindi and will show in a side-by-side text box.
• Hindi and English will be added for all master data.
• English (Hindi) will be displayed at the time of selection.
• The preferred value will be presented in the side LABEL field after selection.
• The report data will be displayed in English and then in Hindi after breakage of a page.

Benefits of The Portal

1. Portal has the ability to improve the efficacy of the LA process. It is capable of opening new opportunities for LA.
2. The portal has decreased the processing from weeks to a few days. In most cases, it might take around 2 weeks.
3. The portal assures liability and transparency. This benefits in the direct e-transfer to the payees’ account.
4. It will provide faster completion and decline of errors in the LA process. The portal will offer transparent fund transfer to the payee or land-owner.
5. The portal “Bhoomi Rashi” has been combined with the platform of the Ministry of Finance. It is called the “Public Financial Management System (PFMS)”.
6. The platform is for the deposit of allowance in the interested persons’ account. This deposit is done on the basis of real-time.

Conclusion

The portal “Bhoomi Rashi” fast tracks the LA process. This provides better results for all the stake-holders. The transparency introduced by the portal provides benefits to investors, farmers, etc. It is a new crucial moment in the country’s journey for digitalization.

The Indian citizens can view the status of numerous LA processes. For this, they have to visit the Bhoomi Rashi portal and tap on the Public Grievance tab.

FAQs

Q1. Who is liable to create projects on the portal?

The following are liable to create projects on the portal:

• RO will have to create a project in the Ministry.
• PD will set up a project in NHAI.
• GM (P) will be liable to create a project in NHIDCL.

Q2. Who will process the compensation for the land party?

PFMS will process the allowance that will go to the account of the land-owner.

Q3. Why was there a set up of the Bhoomi Rashi portal?

The Bhoomi Rashi portal was set up to digitalize the LA process for NH projects. It was set up by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highway.

Q4. What if a user submits the wrong document by mistake?

A user cannot change the uploaded documents. He/She can only edit & replace them. This must be done before application submission.