- Dantewada digitizes 700,000 land records on Avalanche for instant, tamper-proof access.
- Title search times cut from days to seconds; staffing costs reduced by 40% in phase one.
- Blockchain integration boosts access for marginalized groups and enables fast land services.
The Dantewada district in India’s Chhattisgarh state has digitized its entire land record system using blockchain infrastructure. The project, completed with the technical support of Zupple Labs and deployed on Avalanche’s Evergreen subnet, secures more than 700,000 legacy documents. The move aims to make land records tamper-proof, transparent, and instantly verifiable, eliminating delays that historically led to inefficiencies and disputes.
Previously, all land records in Dantewada existed on paper and were verified manually. The process involved up to 15 steps and often took several weeks. This slowed down land transactions and contributed to the spread of forged property documents through informal markets.
Under the new system, every mutation, ownership deed, and survey map has been hashed and recorded on Avalanche’s permissioned Layer 1 blockchain. Each land record is now accessible via a unique QR code. Citizens and officials can confirm the authenticity of a document in under 30 seconds, without using digital wallets or navigating complex systems.
The first phase of the rollout includes digitizing approximately 50,000 plots. According to district officials, title search times have dropped from three days to less than a minute, and staffing costs for the Land Records Office have already decreased by 40%.
Administrative Leadership and Execution
The blockchain transition was initiated during the tenure of Mr. Jayant Nahata, IAS, who previously served as Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Dantewada. Nahata, now Chief Executive Officer of the Zila Panchayat, directed the planning and execution of the system alongside the current District Collector, Mr. Mayank Chaturvedi, IAS.
According to Chaturvedi, the move to embrace digitization and blockchain technology has made land verification a simple process and assisted in reviving the much-needed public confidence. Due to the rapid availability of land services within one day, there has been a noticeable improvement in the district administration’s service efficiency, availability, and accessibility of documents.
Enabling Equitable Access for Citizens
One key objective of the initiative was to provide equitable access to land records, especially for citizens from tribal and marginalized communities. The new platform simplifies record retrieval for individuals facing bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining legal documentation.
The application, shaped by Zupple Labs using its LegitDoc platform, has been customized to appeal to the local officials and the general public. It is founded on earlier versions of LegitDoc that have been used for caste certificates, academic transcripts, and identity papers in other parts of India.
The Dantewada initiative is in conformity with India’s national blockchain strategy and is crafted to be used as a blueprint for adoption in other districts in Chhattisgarh. Looking forward, the project will work with financial institutions to make land-based loan services available.
One important feature is the system’s ability to produce copies of digital birth and marriage certificates. More than 700.000 people have already benefited from the initiative, and its objective is to reduce legal expenses, lessen the number of land issues, and help the economy by making the government procedures more transparent.
