Special cell to re-create land records

THODUPUZHA: The burglary at the Chathurangapara village office and the destruction of important papers relating to the ownership of land has forced the Udumbanchola Taluk Office to take up a Herculean task to recreate the records.Realising the responsibility of the job, the tahasildar has sent a letter to the District Collector seeking permission to open a special cell to analyse threadbare the genuineness of the title holders.The collection of land tax has been suspended in the village office in the wake of the burglary.The opening of the special cell will help in restarting the tax collection, tahsildar V R Mohanan Pillai said.“This is an exercise similar to the one which was carried out in Chinnacanal.The screening was done to weed out fake and fictitious land records in Chinnacanal some time ago,” he said.The involvement of two government employees, including a village assistant, in the burglary at the Chaturangapara village office had exposed the link between the Revenue staff and fraudsters involved in fake land deals.According to the police, the burglary at the village office and burning down of important land documents were carried out by two persons who had taken `17 lakh loan from a nationalised bank mortgaging land which was not owned by them.The opening of the special cell will help verify the supporting documents of those who come to pay land taxes, Pillai said.The title holders should pay tax and appear at the taluk office for screening.A notification in this regard will be issued soon after getting clearance from the Collector, he said.The heist is expected to affect about 5000 land holders in the village.Of the 49 ‘thandaper’ registers stolen, only 23 have been recovered.