Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury on Wednesday said that the digital record room will reduce harassment in the collection of land Records of Rights (ROR).
The number of visitors to deputy commissioner's office to collect ROR will be reduced. Besides, there will be no more harassment of touts, the minister said in a statement.
He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of conversion of citizen service of record rooms in 21 districts of Bangladesh to e-service or digital service to build a digital Bangladesh at the conference room of the land ministry with the theme 'Land service in hand'.
From today, over 18.66 million (one crore 86 lakh 67 thousand 6 hundred) and RORs of CS, SA, RS, and Diara survey will be available in digital record room in these 21 districts, namely - Dhaka, Faridpur, Narsingdi, Gopalganj, Tangail, Shariatpur, Kishoreganj, Madaripur, Narayanganj, Rajbari, Manikganj, Chittagong, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Mymensingh, Netrokona, Panchagarh, Kurigram, Rangpur and Sirajganj, according to the ministry statement.
A total of 98,445 RORs were published under various surveys as per Mouza-wise. One has to come DC office only to collect a certified copy by applying for ROR. The Department of Land Records and Surveys, in collaboration with a2i, has set up digital record room, the statement reads.
The land minister further said that along with online ROR, we are working for an online automated certified copy of the ROR.
"Working towards vision with sincerity and honesty, we have been able to come up with the top five ministries today in terms of efficiency," he said. Expressing hope that the digital record room would be completed in the whole country by next year, the land minister further said, "Under the direction of the prime minister, we want to establish the Ministry of Land as the address of people's trust." I believe we are on the right track.
Responding to a query regarding digital security, the land minister said, "We are working very consciously on cybersecurity. We have already written to the Government's Public Security and ICT Department to assist in this matter."
Responding to another question, the minister said, "We are working sustainably so the basics system can move at its own pace irrespective of people come on future.
Senior Secretary of Land Ministry Md Muksodur Rahman Patwary chaired the programme.
Mr Patwary said that this year the team of the Ministry of Land won the 'Digital Bangladesh Award 2020' for providing online ROR and creating digital record rooms.
Earlier, Head of the Land Service Digitisation Monitoring Cell Md Doulutuzzaman Khan presented an illustrated report on the technology and progress of Digital Record Room.
Director-General of Land Record and Survey Department Md Taslimul Islam and Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Md Mostafizur Rahman spoke at the programme directly while and a2i Project Director Dr Md Abdul Mannan and Deputy Commissioner of Rangpur Md Asib Ahsan spoke by zoom video conference software among others.
Chairman of Land Appeal Board Ummul Hasna, Chairman of Land Reform Board Md Yakub Ali Patwary, and other senior officials of the Ministry of Land were present on the occasion. Besides, many field-level officials, including the concerned divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners, participated in the inaugural function through zoom video conferencing.
It is to be noted that through the 'Mohafezkhana' or Record Room Branch, deputy commissioner's office gives the services of - accepting and supplying the copy application of CS/RS/SA/BRS ROR, providing copies of case documents and miss cases, etc, providing information incase unavailability of ROR and providing Mouza Maps. Initially, record room services were provided through district information service centers in 61 districts.
Since the record is a very sensitive document for the citizen, the initiatives of digital record room have been taken to make all this information more effectively for the citizen. Citizens can avail this service online from www.eporcha.gov.bd, www.land.gov.bd, www.dlrs.gov.bd, www.minland.gov.bd websites.
A total of 39.85 million (3 crores 98 lakh 58 thousand 01 hundred) and 13 ROR of CS, SA, RS, and Diyara surveys of 61 districts are available online. The record rooms of the remaining 40 districts (excluding the three hill districts) will be gradually launched as digital record rooms.
sajibur@gmail.com