Finance Minister Eatala Rajender on Friday informed the Legislative Council that the government will appoint IAS officers as project officers for all the three integrated tribal development agencies (ITDAs) in the State within a week.
Answering a question on behalf of Tribal Welfare Minister A. Chandulal, who was not present, Mr. Rajender said the Telangana government had no say in the appointment of project officer for the ITDA at Hyderabad as the post was allotted to Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation.
This ITDA was established for tribals in plain areas of 20 districts in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
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Pending work
It was not only the PO’s post but 10 other senior officers of the ITDA at Hyderabad, including assistant POs, administrative officer, accounts officer and executive engineers, who were allotted to AP. Telangana was left with only five officers to run the divisional offices of Hyderabad ITDA at Mannanur and Hyderabad.
Nonetheless, Mr. Rajender said the engineering wing of divisional offices at Mannanur and Hyderabad was handled by Panchayat Raj Department. All work pending in the divisional offices will be grounded in six to eight months.
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Toddy tappers
To another question on toddy, Excise Minister T. Padma Rao said the government was studying the feasibility of replicating on toddy trees a technology used for picking coconuts on trees. A report of the feasibility study undertaken by a team that toured Kerala and Tamil Nadu to learn about the technology was awaited.
If the report was positive, the Minister said the equipment will be given free to all the 8,000 toddy tappers’ cooperative societies in the State.
The Minister said membership of cooperative societies was compulsory for toddy tappers but some societies denied the facility as the tappers demanded a share in profits.
Land registration
Revenue Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali said there were 26 security features in the e-Pattadar passbooks that were being issued to farmers owning land. He denied that the government had ordered stoppage of land registration in the absence of details of lands being available online.
Health Minister C. Laxma Reddy said the government proposed to fill up the large number of vacancies of faculty in Nizamabad Medical College by deputation to meet Medical Council of India guideline. As many as 17 posts of professors were vacant.