The unused Government lands in various cities would soon be mapped and protected for use of housing and other projects.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi directed the Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC) to take up satellite and GIS mapping and the Housing and Urban Development and the Revenue & Disaster Management Departments to ensure protection of such identified lands as quickly as possible.
Chairing the ORSAC governing body meeting on Wednesday, Padhi asked the ORSAC to hand over the completed projects to the respective departments and agencies for maintenance and updating.
He advised the agency to scale up geo tagging and develop the mobile apps to disseminate information about wider accessibility and more effective use of such lands.
It was revealed at the meeting that the ORSAC, operating under the Science and Technology Department, has almost doubled its operations and earnings over the years.
According to sources, its total turnover during 2014-15 fiscal was `31. 12 crore while it rose `62.11 crore during the current fiscal.With many Central departments and other agencies entrusting various projects to it, the ORSAC has taken up around 27 GIS mapping projects by the end of last fiscal.
It has found out around 10, 800 acres unused Government land within Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area and identified around 2, 40,000 acres of vacant Government land in different districts which can be utilized for various purposes.The ORASC has also completed geo referencing of 1,50,000 cadastral maps of various districts of State and linked it to the Bhulekh data, according to sources.
The major projects include the Odisha land Bank Project, Industrial Portal Portal for land Use and Services.
Among others, Panchayati Raj Secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, H and UD Secretary G Mathivathnan, Science and Technology Secretary Vir Vikram Yadav and Electronics and IT Special Secretary Rudra Narayan Pallai participated.