NRIs: Skip the Flight Ticket, Audit the Plot From Your Laptop
4 min read
One important update first: Dharani has now been replaced by "Bhu Bharati." After the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Act, 2025, all the old Dharani records migrated to the new Bhu Bharati system. If a broker says "check it on Dharani," the correct current portal is bhubharati.telangana.gov.in (the old dharani.telangana.gov.in link also redirects here now).
The 5 Portals: Direct Links
# | Portal | What It Shows | Official Link |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bhu Bharati (formerly Dharani) | Seller's name, passbook, Pahani details match or not | bhubharati.telangana.gov.in |
2 | IGRS Telangana | Encumbrance Certificate (EC): 30 year transfer history | registration.telangana.gov.in |
3 | Bhuvan Panchayat / LULC | Whether the land is forest area or a water body, via satellite | bhuvan-panchayat3.nrsc.gov.in |
4 | HMDA / DTCP Master Plan | Layout approval (LP number), Green/Conservation zone status | hmda.gov.in (within city limits) / dtcp.telangana.gov.in (outside HMDA) |
5 | TS-bPASS (now BuildNow / TG-bPASS) | How many building permissions already exist in that layout | tgbpass.telangana.gov.in / buildnow.telangana.gov.in |
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Bhu Bharati: Land Details Search Open the site, go to "Land Details" → select District, Mandal, Village → enter the survey number. Check if the name on the passbook matches the name showing here. If the names don't match, walk away from the deal.
2. IGRS - Encumbrance Certificate: Click "Encumbrance Search (EC)" → select the SRO → enter survey/property details or the document number → pull the last 30 years of EC. This shows how many times the land has changed hands. Records are online only from 1983 onward; anything before that needs an in-person request at the SRO office.
3. Bhuvan Panchayat -LULC Check: Go to "Bhuvan-Panchayat" → select the village → turn on the LULC layer. The colors show the land classification: agricultural, forest, water body, and so on. Blue usually means the land is a wetland or was a pond.
4. HMDA/DTCP , Verify Layout Approval: Take the LP number from the brochure and search it under "Layout Approvals" on the HMDA site. If the land is inside HMDA limits use the HMDA portal; outside HMDA limits, use the DTCP site instead. If the result shows "Pending," that LP number is just a file number, not a final approval.
5. TS-bPASS (BuildNow), Public Domain Records: Search the layout or village name under "Know Your Application Status." If other plots in that same layout already have approved building permissions, that's a good sign. If there isn't a single permission in that layout, treat it as a red flag.
The NRI-Special Tool: Google Earth Pro
It's free software. Click the "Historical Imagery" clock icon and slide back 10 years. If the plot being sold to you today looks like a pond or a nala (stream) in 2015 imagery, satellite images don't lie. No matter how confidently the broker says "Clear Title," if the historical image shows a wetland, exit that deal immediately.
Quick Reference
Red Flag | Where It Shows Up |
|---|---|
Name mismatch | Bhu Bharati |
Frequent or suspicious transfers | IGRS EC |
Water body / forest classification | Bhuvan LULC |
Green/Conservation zone | HMDA/DTCP Master Plan |
Zero building permissions in the layout | TS-bPASS / BuildNow |
Was a pond 10 years back | Google Earth Pro historical imagery |
Final Word
In real estate, "trust" doesn't protect you, verification does. Instead of booking a flight ticket to Hyderabad, auditing your survey number on these 5 portals is easier, cheaper, and safer. Knowledge is your biggest security.
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