The Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE) has completed the exercise of surveying the 17.78 lakh acres of defence land, the first such exercise post Independence, for which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday gave away awards to 11 officers and 24 personnel of 38 Defence Estates Offices and four Assistant Defence Estates Offices on the accomplishment.

“As per the records maintained by the Defence Estates Office, Ministry of Defence owns about 17.99 lakh acres of land, of which 1.61 lakh acres of land is located within 62 notified cantonments across the country. About 16.38 lakh acres of land is spread across many pockets outside the cantonments,” a Defence Ministry statement said. Out of the 16.38 lakh acres land, about 18,000 acres is either State hired land or is proposed for deletion from records on account of transfer to other government departments.

Terming the survey as historic, Mr. Singh said the clear demarcation of defence land would prove to be crucial for the security and development of these areas and added that the accuracy of the measurement of land and the reliable records born out of the survey would save considerable amount of energy, money and time that went into resolving land disputes.

DGDE used modern survey techniques such as Electronic Total Station and Differential Global Positioning System. Drone and satellite imagery based surveys were also conducted to get accurate and time-bound results, the statement said.

The Defence Estates Organisation is responsible for the management of defence lands and the municipal administration of 62 cantonments.

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