Technological solution: Land transfer records digitised in Peshawar

Buyers and sellers will have to record their thumb impressions and be photographed

PESHAWAR: Following similar moves by Sindh, the provincial government has started work on digitising the land transfer system in Peshawar and link it to the biometric records of individuals in a bid to minimise problems faced by the public when transferring their property.

The existing paper-based system in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), was plagued by a host of issues, least of all were bureaucratic red-tape and of corruption. All of this was instituted by delaying every step of the otherwise simple process of transferring property in someone else’s name.

District officials have thus explained that the new system will not only quicken up the process but would also help improve transparency and accountability of the process.

In the new process, those transferring land would have to record their thumb impressions for a bio-metric record while a digital photo of the buyer, seller and witnesses to the land transfer will also be taken. These images and records will remain in the district administration’s database as official records, a district administration official said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2018.