Abstract

Land records in Maharashtra are largely limited to agricultural areas, while built up or abadi areas, termed as ‘gaothan’ areas in rural Maharashtra have minimal property records. The Government of Maharashtra (GoM) has initiated surveys of gaothan areas (called as ‘city surveys’) using drone technology to map properties and establish a quick, accurate, up-to-date maps accompanying textual records.

This policy brief explores the level of efficiency, suitability and limitation of drone technique for surveying gaothan areas and recommends a combination of survey techniques to assist state governments to conduct surveys of inhabited areas in more accurate and efficient ways.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24943/pb6aesdcsm.2019