A GPS-enabled application will soon be keeping an eye on the damages suffered by farmers due to reasons like natural calamity or wild animals. The application, christened ‘mobile halris’ and is currently being used in five villages of Panchkula, will cover the whole state by March. Once it is done, crop loss claims will be settled on the basis of ground report prepared by the patwari concerned. Currently, claims are settled on the basis of the statement of patwaris, who in the past have been under the scanner for favouring their aides and getting hefty compensation for the favour. The system will ensure transparency in claim settlement as the patwari will have to take a picture of each farm through this application and enter its details. The National Informatics Centre has developed the application. It already has each khasra and girdhwari numbers. The patwari will select his village, the khasra number and the girdawari number and enter the specific details of the farm. To ensure that the patwari himself visits the farm, he will take two pictures of each farm; one of these will be a selfie of him in the farm. District informatics officer Satpal Sharma said, “In case of a natural calamity, claims were settled according to what the victim farmers told the patwaris and in turn, what the latter told the government. To bring in transparency and rule out any cheating, this app can be very helpful.” He added that the application would be modified if test results find it essential.As a pilot project, three computer tablets with the application installed in them were given to three patwaris in Panchkula district, who would use it to provide data of five villages — Kaasampur, Shyamtu, Palasra, Shahpur and Khol Albela. The tabs were given to the patwaris last month and the department is awaiting the results. The results will determine the success and feasibility of the application and whether or not it can be used across the state.District revenue officer Dheeraj Chahal said, “We will see if the system is feasible or not, as this is a time-consuming process. The decision will be taken before the next season in March.” According to the DRO, there are 253 villages in the district and 24 patwaris. Hence, if the indigenous application is adopted, the government will buy 24 tabs and install the application in each before giving it to the patwaris. The patwaris will bring back the data, which will be put into a system. Once the entire details are entered, a consolidated report for the whole state and at each division will be available. Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com