Digital ‘panchanama' to accelerate disaster compensation

Time of India

14-05-2025

Nagpur: After a successful two-year pilot in Nagpur division,
e-Panchanama project
is ready for a full-scale roll out across the state. The digital platform has been developed to streamline and expedite disaster damage assessment and compensation. Training for its implementation has been done in four divisions including Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, and Konkan.Training in the remaining two divisions, Pune and Chatrapati Sambhajinagar, is under way, with statewide implementation expected by the end of 2025.Developed under the initiative of Nagpur divisional commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari, in collaboration with the
Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre
(MRSAC) and the Relief & Rehabilitation Department, the e-Panchanama system replaces traditional manual processes with a GPS-enabled mobile and web-based platform.
This allows for real-time, location-specific documentation of damage, enabling swift and accurate assessments.The Maharashtra govt approved an administrative expenditure of Rs 4.95 crore for the project on March 14, 2023. Subsequently, on January 25, 2024, an additional Rs 20.65 crore was sanctioned for MRSAC to develop the necessary server infrastructure to support the system.Bidari recently presented the e-Panchanama project at the Tech-Wari conference in Mumbai, where she was invited as one of the key speakers.
Reflecting on the development process, she shared how on-ground feedback played a crucial role during the pilot in Nagpur. "We're also exploring similar modules to assess human and animal losses due to floods and other natural calamities, although those are still in the early brainstorming stage. However, this system became much more efficient thanks to suggestions from village-level officers," Bidari told TOI."For instance, we introduced the land masking feature based on their input, which automatically excludes forest land and Gaothan areas — zones typically not eligible for compensation when farms are damaged by unseasonal rains. Initially, the system allowed uploading only one photo per assessment. But field officers pointed out that damages are often more evident from different angles, so we incorporated the option to upload multiple photos. These changes made the platform more practical and accurate," she said.Since its pilot inception, the project demonstrated significant results. In the 2023–24 fiscal year, 46,884 e-Panchanamas were conducted, benefiting 43,844 farmers. In 2024–25, 40,982 assessments have already been carried out, impacting 39,866 farmers during which parallelly manual punchanamas were filed. A total of 2,932 govt personnel, including Talathis, Tahsildars, BDOs, Agriculture Assistants, and Gram Sevaks, have been trained across the four completed divisions.Key features of the system include integration with land record systems (7/12, e-Peek Pahani), Sevarth ID for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), and auto-calculation of compensation based on crop-wise and farmer-specific damage. Each e-Panchanama is geotagged, assigned a unique ID, and stored in a centralised database that supports damage pattern analysis, decision-making, and forecasting.Looking ahead, plans are also there to integrate the system with the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite network and streamline DBT delivery. A Government Resolution detailing the new e-Panchanama process is under development. Support structures are also being established, including a dedicated support cell at Mantralaya and designated officers at each divisional and collector office.