The district-level revenue and survey adalat organised by the revenue department at the district collectorate campus on Friday proved to be a marathon affair lasting over 13 hours during which time more than Rs. 6 crore was disbursed among beneficiaries.
Of the 29,941 petitions received during the day of the adalat and before, 17,962 were addressed at the adalat. The rest of the petitions were forwarded to the authorities concerned by Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash for appropriate action.
While Rs. 4.98 crore was disbursed from the Chief Minister’s relief fund, Rs. 35.24 lakh was given as natural calamity relief, Rs. 28 lakh from the family benefit scheme and Rs. 44 lakh under various other projects.
Fifty-odd computerised counters set up as part of the adalat was teeming with people from early morning. All taluks and two revenue divisional offices had separate counters in addition to counters for fresh applications.
The revenue department had deployed more than 1,000 officials led by District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam for the smooth conduct of the adalat.
Officials enlisted to receive complaints and recommend suggestions did a commendable job of the arduous task. Nineteen employees had been deployed for registering the details and to sort the complaints. In the opening hours, Rs. 2.79 crore was disbursed among more than 800 beneficiaries.
Earlier, inaugurating the adalat, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the State government was determined to encourage self-attestation to maximum extent possible. The government wanted to take everyone into confidence. Simply because some might furnish false information not everyone could be punished. Authorities should remain alert to falsified information, conduct an inquiry when in doubt and take action whenever the falsity was revealed, Mr. Chandy said.
The government was also aware about the hiccups in the issue of birth certificates and was about to take steps to simplify the process. The decision to implement the Right to Service Act and make services available online had been taken with the objective of ensuring timely service to the public. Delivering the presidential address, the Revenue Minister said that 3.55 lakh complaints had been addressed in the revenue and survey adalats held in 13 districts.
Delving on the e-district project, he said that 1.19 crore certificates had so far been issued using that platform. Excise Minister K. Babu; MLAs Benny Behanan, Hibi Eden, Dominic Presentation, S. Sarma, V.P. Sajeendran, and Jose Thettayil; and Mayor Tony Chammany; were among those present.
