‘Four Visits’ Initiative Helps Settle Land Disputes In Nellore

Nellore: A quiet administrative innovation in SPS Nellore district is delivering impressive results -- with the “One Month – One Village – Four Visits” model emerging as a gamechanger in resolving long-pending land disputes.

Introduced under the broader initiative “Bhu Samasyalaku Saswatha Pariskaram,” the programme—led by district collector Himanshu Shukla—has shifted governance from offices to villages, ensuring grievances are addressed directly at the grassroots level.

The model follows a structured four-step approach—identifying issues, verifying records on the ground, building consensus among contending parties, and facilitating a settlement of the issues.

This field-driven system has replaced the earlier practice of repeated office visits, delays and unresolved complaints.

Recognising its impact, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu praised the initiative during a public meeting at Vinjamur on Wednesday. He described it as a result-oriented and people-centric governance model. Naidu suggested that such practices be replicated elsewhere.

The results underline the success of the approach. Between December 2025 and March 2026, teams of officials moved through villages and handled over 3,700 grievances across the district. In December, 822 cases were taken up of which 696 were resolved.

This was followed by 1,308 cases in January (1053 resolved), 972 in February (669 resolved), and 695 in March (300 resolved), reflecting consistent progress in clearing the pending disputes.

Earlier, in the first three months, 110 villages were covered, with 26 villages declared dispute-free. The reopening rate of cases dropped sharply from 18 to 7 per cent, indicating durable and satisfactory resolutions.

The initiative has largely addressed issues related to Record of Rights (ROR), mutations, resurvey discrepancies, and Sadabainama claims, which form the bulk of rural land disputes.

A well-defined workflow involving VROs, surveyors and tahsildars—backed by regular monitoring by the collector—has ensured accountability and speed.

With plans to institutionalize the model through the public grievance redressal system and scale it across mandals using technology like GIS and DGPS surveys, Nellore’s “Four Visits” initiative is fast becoming a benchmark in grassroots governance.

It is bringing administration closer to the people and restoring trust in the system.