It is not only Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who has been reiterating the need to bring a new Revenue Act to streamline the functioning of the Revenue Department, but also employees and general public who are equally eager for the new Act to make the department, with maximum public interface, transparent and accountable.
After the gruesome murder of Abdullapurmet Tahsildar Vijaya Reddy by a man allegedly frustrated that his Pattadar passbook was not corrected though his land was involved in a legal dispute, Telangana Revenue Employees Services Association struck work for over a week in November last year seeking protection for Mandal Revenue Officers/Tahasildars and sought guidelines from the government for resolving pending disputed cases. All the land disputed cases identified under the land record updation programme were categorised under the Category B.
The guidelines on how to go about resolving ‘Category B’ cases in a transparent manner and with accountability fixed on officers have not been issued even more than two months after the assurance was given, revenue employees associations point out.
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People who have been doing rounds still for correction of errors that crept into the passbooks without any disputes even after two years too are anxious for a solution and pin their hopes on the New Revenue Act. People too want time-bound delivery of services to save their money and time.
With loss of image among the public with the Chief Minister himself airing his view openly that the Revenue Department was the most corrupt department, the revenue employees associations have decided to meet Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K. T. Rama Rao again and press for the guidelines for the disposal of disputed cases other than those pending in the civil courts and also for correction of errors that crept into the passbooks.
The revenue employees welcoming the proposed new Revenue Act will be representing to the government to restrict the employees to the services of Revenue Department. At present they were deployed for every work right from conducting elections to implementation of welfare schemes, pulse polio programmes to family planning programmes. The District Collectors would seek the services of revenue employees when there was no progress in other departments. But this often would affect their core work of land administration, they said.
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They wanted an integrated and simplified Revenue Act, a citizens charter with time limit for various services that should be implemented at all levels , Revenue Academy for continuous training to employees, appointment of one VRO at every village and give promotions to all cadres that have been over due.