(From left) T. Chandana, Assistant Director, PR&RD, Aditi Agrawal, Deputy Director, PIB New Delhi, N. Lalitha Kumari, Vengalayapalem sarpanch and B.V. Sai Kumar, District Panchayat Officer, Guntur, addressing the media at Vengalayapalem in Guntur district on Monday.
| Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT
Officials highlighted that Andhra Pradesh government has set a target to distribute one crore SVAMITVA property cards by March 2026. The Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) scheme aims to provide Record of Rights to property owners in rural inhabited areas by issuing property cards.
A delegation of Press Information Bureau (PIB) officials, national media representatives witnessed the implementation of the SVAMITVA scheme, under the Department of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, during their field visit to Chintalapudi village of Duggirala mandal in Guntur district, on Monday. The PIB, in coordination with the Panchayat Raj Department, will conduct a national media exposure tour in the State, starting from Monday, for three days.
These legal ownership documents help reduce land disputes, enable villagers to access bank loans by monetising property, and strengthen panchayat-level governance through reliable property registers, explained SVAMITVAA Director Nishanth Reddy.
As part of the process, gram panchayats pass resolutions to allow surveys, which are then carried out using advanced drone technology by the Survey of India. Ground truthing, validation, and grievance redressal mechanisms ensure accuracy in demarcating boundaries. Finalized Records of Rights (RoR) are read out in gram sabhas before property cards are distributed to villagers.
The initiative not only secures land rights but also improves property tax collection, facilitates planned rural development, and promotes transparency through gram sabha participation.
On the other hand, the delegation also visited Vengalayapalem village in Guntur rural mandal, where the officials explained about the department’s initiative of collecting waste from villagers in exchange for groceries. The department will get returns through commercial value of the dry waste, they added.
Published – September 15, 2025 10:50 pm IST
