The Nagpur administrative division in Maharashtra is piloting a project to carry out ‘e-panchanamas’ of losses caused by natural calamities which could potentially bring down the compensation process from months to just weeks, an official said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters here, Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari said they will do the e-panchanamas for crop damage, house damage, death of cattle and other losses due to natural calamities through a software instead of the usual pen and paper method.

As per the project, field officials in the division, comprising Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts, will key in inputs on the spot.   

On-field capturing of data and other factors will help in making proper reporting of the losses in a very time-bound manner, she said.

Citing preliminary reports, the official said, 30,599.2 hectares of agricultural land were affected due to rains and floods between June 1 and August 1, 2023 in the division. 

While 40 people lost their lives, mostly due to lightning, during this period, 38,820 farmers were hit by rains and floods, she said.

According to Bidari, this might be the first such project in the country to take the assessment of losses due to natural calamities through the digital route.

Once implemented, the e-panchanama project will reduce the loss assessment and compensation procedure from four to five months to just two weeks, she said.

All tehsildars and talathis (revenue officials) were trained for a month on the use of the software, said Bidari, adding the project will be replicated across the state after its successful implementation in the Nagpur division.

Source - https://www.theweek.in