Land survey will create more disputes in Bihar: Prashant Kishor

Patna, Jan Suraaj Chief Prashant Kishor said on Tuesday that the ongoing land survey in Bihar would create more disputes in the state. “The way in which the survey is being conducted could lead to widespread land ownership disputes within the next six months. The survey was initiated hastily, without proper preparation or allocation of resources,” Kishor said while interacting with the media persons in Kaimur. He said that Nitish Kumar is probably playing the last inning of his political career. “I have a great relationship with him, but I won’t hesitate to say that he has made a blunder. The Bihar government has done no preparations to conduct a land survey. At present, 33 per cent of lands are disputed in Bihar and after the survey, it will double,” he said. He also elaborated on the potential issues arising from the ongoing land survey in Bihar, pointing out that many plots of land are registered under the names of only one family member. “This situation can lead to disputes if that individual is unwilling to share the property with other family members or refuses to provide the necessary No Objection Certificates (NOCs) required for any changes in land ownership,” he said. He said that these challenges, among others, could complicate the survey process, for which the state’s Land Reforms and Revenue Department is unprepared. He also emphasised that the lack of preparation and foresight in handling these complexities could further escalate land-related disputes and create chaos at the community level. He noted that the digitisation of land records in Bihar was recently carried out by an external agency, which operated under a system that incentivised speed over accuracy – rewarding more digitisation work with more money. “This rushed approach led to numerous errors, such as lands being incorrectly transferred between family members, causing significant confusion and chaos at the village level,” Kishor said. He said in an attempt to rectify these mistakes, the government launched another land survey without adequate preparation, which will further exacerbate land-related disputes in the future. Meanwhile, in a significant political development, Prashant Kishor said that his political organization – Jan Suraaj – would contest the upcoming Ramgarh by-election. He expressed confidence stating that Jan Suraj’s candidate would “definitely” win. “Only a few families have contested and won elections in most seats in Kaimur. However, this time, I would plan to personally devise a strategy to ensure the success of the Jan Suraaj candidate and secure a seat in the Vidhan Sabha. The people of Ramgarh would now have the opportunity to vote for their own children rather than the descendants of established political leaders,” he said.