CHENNAI: The state government is planning to enact separate legislation to provide special protection to revenue officials, including Village Administrative Officers (VAOs), revenue inspectors, deputy tahsildars and tahsildars, who are involved in preventing illegal sand smuggling and the unauthorised transportation of minerals. The proposed legislation aims to safeguard these officials from threats and attacks by anti-social elements and criminals while discharging their duties.
During the demand for grants for the revenue and disaster management department on Monday, Minister KA Sengottaiyan informed the Assembly that the legislation would be brought to provide security to revenue officials engaged in preventing the smuggling of sand and minerals. He also announced that the government would abolish the collection of Fasli 1436 land tax on agricultural lands.
Sources said the government currently collects around Rs 100 as Fasli tax for each year, from July 1 to June 30. The collection of the tax will now be abolished completely. The minister said that of the 3.5 lakh vacancies in the department last year, only 25% had been filled. “We are planning to fill all the vacancies in next three years.”
During the previous regime, automatic transfer of names in pattas following the registration of land documents had been implemented for only 45% of transactions. “After the TVK assumed office, around 80% of land documents are now being transferred automatically within a few minutes of registration,” he said.
Sengottaiyan also announced that a separate collectorate building would be constructed for Chennai at a cost of Rs 83 crore. In addition, 12 mini taluks would be created across eight taluks in Chennai district at a cost of Rs 1.02 crore. “These taluks will be headed by deputy tahsildars and will serve as accessible administrative hubs, empowered to issue essential certificates,” he said.
He further announced that a three-level approval system would be introduced to expedite the issuance of community and other certificates. “Currently, around 26 certificates are issued after four levels of scrutiny. This will be reduced to three levels for most certificates,” he said. The minister said 12,466 VAOs and 1,253 revenue inspectors will get geotagged tablets at `68 crore. “This will help officials assess damage during floods and cyclones,” he added.