HYDERABAD: Srinivas, a doctor by profession, recently purchased a plot in Bhongir under Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA) limits. Like any other citizen, Srinivas paid Rs 30,000 bribe to the registration department officials to register his land and another Rs 30,000 to Revenue officials for its mutation. He then approached the working president of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, KT Rama Rao, through social media. “When there is a popular CM like KCR in the state, can you not curb corruption?” he asked.
Rama Rao immediately brought the issue to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the latter immediately called up Srinivas, who was on his way to Vijayawada at that time. Srinivas took a break from his journey and explained to the CM of his ordeal with the two departments.
In a separate incident, a farmer’s son Kondapalli Sankaraiah, lodged a complaint on tampering of land records by the concerned department. The CM called up Sankaraiah, twice, before directing the Mancherial district officials to resolve the matter immediately.
Following these two incidents, the CM further intensified his efforts to clean up the entire Revenue system. In the recent Lok Sabha election meetings, Rao called upon the people to not register their lands and also not hurry for a mutation of their lands till June/July, when a new Revenue Act will be put in place. Rao had a preliminary meeting with officials concerned on revamping the State’s Revenue system on Friday, a day after the completion of Lok Sabha polling in the State.
Revenue officials agreed that corruption does exist, but added that it was a nunaced issue. They pointed out how the government needs to strengthen the Anti-Corruption Bureau to curb the graft but also that scrapping the Revenue department due to a few corrupt employees. It is like burning the house to get rid of rats, most of them said. Such remedy is worse than the disease, one of the employee said.
Root causes of corruption
According to the Revenue officials, there are two reasons for corruption in the revenue system. First, there is a severe lack of staff in the department. There are around 11,000 revenue villages in the State and each village needs to have a Village Revenue Officer (VRO). However, the sanctioned cadre strength is just 6,732, while the VROs currently working are only 4,500. Which means, one VRO is responsible for two or more villages. When a farmer in a particular village wants his work done immediately, he is bound to bribe the VRO to have the officials attend to his work first. “If the vacancies are filled, then the corruption levels will come down considerably,” an official pointed out.
Although, the State brought administrative reforms by increasing the total number of districts to 33, it could not bring administration to the door steps of people. What happened was the staff in old districts have been given the additional charge of new districts. Thus, the very purpose of creating new districts has not been served.
Norms say that each tahsildar’s office should have at least seven employees—one Tahsildar, one deputy Tahsildar, two RIs, one Senior Assistant, one Junior Assistant, one typist and one surveyor. “On an average, there are more than three vacancies in each mandal. There are no surveyors. Each mandal is facing a shortage of employees,” an official said and suggested that the government should ensure adequate staff so that the fruits of administrative reforms reach to the people.
The second reason, village-level corruption is a direct result of top-level corruption. For example, if a farmer pays `5,000 to get his patta to local the VRO, the entire money will not go to that VRO. `2,500 will go to the tahsildar, `1,000 to revenue inspector, `500 to field assistant, `200 to middlemen and some will be spent on sundries. The VRO will only get about `100 to `200. “But, the public will blame only
the VRO for corruption,” a VRO lamented.
If the land records are surveyed and updated on a computer, then the person-to-person contact will be greatly reduced, several employees opined. As protocol officers, VROs are further burdened with debts. “If a Minister or VIP comes to the village, then the MRO will direct us to provide facilities to the VIP. At the district-level, officials regularly receive protocol funds which never reach the villages. Even during elections, VROs provide facilities at polling stations. We have sometimes spent `5,000 per polling booth on meals for staff, water and shamiana. But, received only `1,500 to `2,000. Average debt burden on each VRO is `5 lakh. We have already represented this to the government in the past,” a VRO pointed out.
Is a land survey possible?
While both the government and the employees are of the view that a fresh survey of land records will reduce corruption, there are many hurdles ahead. A proper land survey has not been done in the last seven decades. During the implementation of Rythu Bandhu scheme, the State had hurriedly reconciled revenue records with those of the government, without physical verifications. Earlier, there was a Land Records Updation Programme (LRUP) which also simply updated records. “If the government is sincere, it will recruit surveyors and update the records or use GIS tech. It should take about two to three years to update all records,” an official explained.
“We demand immediate survey of land records. The reforms should not be taken up with just an eye on earning a good name among the public but should actually be useful,” says Upender Rao. He also added that the VROs would deal with nearly 100 subjects at the village-level. “But, they have no offices to discharge their duties. The government needs to construct office buildings for VROs in each village.”
Most of the Revenue employees are in a state of confusion about the plans of the CM. “We do not know what (Chandrasekhar) Rao is planning exactly. He has only presented the outlines. There are no details,” the officials said. The employees understood only one thing clearly that Rao has decided to eliminate the corruption in the department.
“Some people are doing propaganda against me that I am against the employees. I am not against the employees. I am with the people and also the farmers. Daily, people are forced to pay bribes at Revenue offices. Some officials are looting and squeezing people. This dirty system should be dispensed with. I am not saying that all the officials are taking bribes. But, some officials are really harassing the people for money. I will bring a new Revenue system and ensure a corrupt-free and hassle-free administration,” the CM said at an election meeting, recently.