VIJAYAWADA: Chief Secretary K Vijayanand has instructed district collectors to personally supervise the distribution of new Pattadar Passbooks and ensure that the process is conducted smoothly.
On Friday, he held a video conference with district collectors from the State Secretariat to review issues related to railway underbridges, railway overbridges, pending land acquisition cases connected to railways, distribution of pattadar passbooks, positive public perception, and document upload agents.
On the occasion, the Chief Secretary said the distribution of new Pattadar Passbooks bearing the State emblem had been taken up in place of the old passbooks. He stated that the distribution programme would be conducted every month for a year and that the new Pattadar Passbooks would be issued to every land-owning farmer.
He therefore directed district collectors to personally monitor the distribution and ensure that it takes place in the presence of local public representatives.
The Chief Secretary said appropriate instructions had already been issued to the districts through the Revenue Department. He added that the Chief Minister would also participate in the Pattadar Passbook distribution programme in the districts.
Subsequently, Vijayanand directed the collectors to expedite land acquisition for various railway projects and for the construction of road overbridges (ROBs) and road underbridges (RUBs) in place of railway level crossings. He said the Central government was taking steps to eliminate all railway level crossings in a phased manner and replace them with overbridges or underbridges, and efforts were therefore underway to construct the required ROBs and RUBs.
Speaking virtually at the meeting, Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) G Sai Prasad discussed the distribution of pattadar passbooks. He said that in villages where resurvey had been completed, 23 lakh new pattadar passbooks with the State emblem had already been printed and distribution began on Friday.
Special Chief Secretary (Roads and Buildings) MT Krishnababu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to eliminate railway level crossings across the country and construct railway overbridges or underbridges in their place.
He informed that there are still 766 railway level crossings in the State, of which 329 are on R&B roads, 319 on Panchayat Raj roads, and the remaining on other roads. Of these, 363 ROBs and RUBs have already been sanctioned, while another 403 are yet to be sanctioned.
IT Secretary K Bhaskar, RTGS CEO Prakhar Jain, Director of Information and Public Relations KS Viswanathan, district collectors and railway engineers participated in the video conference.