WARANGAL/NIZAMABAD/SANGAREDDY/KHAMMAM/KARIMNAGAR: Thousands of applications for various certificates are piling up at Tahsildar offices across the State, with the Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs) and Village Revenue Officers (VROs) being on strike since July 25. The applicants have been making rounds of offices in the districts of Warangal, Nizamabad, Sangareddy, Khammam, Karimnagar and Adilabad for certificates but finding empty chairs.
The pending applications include those relating to caste, income, nativity, and Economically Weaker Sections certificates. Meanwhile, eligible beneficiaries of Kalyana Laxmi and Shaadi Mubarak are also visiting the Tahsildar offices regularly for approval of their applications.
According to authorities in the erstwhile Warangal district, due to the VRAs’ indefinite strike, there has been a delay in the issue of certificates. Bayyaram Tahsildar A Ramesh said, “We are not able to process the applications with the VRAs being on strike. This is leading to a delay in the issue of certificates. Without a field inquiry by the VRAs, applications cannot be processed and approved. At present, the Revenue Inspectors (RIs) are making field inquiries which are delaying the process.”
While VRAs have been protesting for higher pay scales, VROs are also not available in villages now, as the State government redeployed over 5,000 Village Revenue Officers (VROs) to various other departments, except the Revenue department. According to sources, the process of redeployment of erstwhile VROs has been completed, as 5,014 VROs joined out of 5,137 VROs, which is 98 per cent.
Revenue Inspectors fill in the gap
Nizamabad Additional Collector B Chandrasekhar said that in the absence of VROs and VRAs, the Revenue Inspectors (RI) are conducting local inspections prior to the issuance of the certificates. “We have not stopped the issuance of certificates. But as the RIs also have other work, the process is a bit delayed. We hope to speed up the process in the coming days,” said the Collector.
20K students wait in Medak
As many as 20,000 students in the erstwhile Medak district are waiting for caste, residence and income certificates. The students complain that the certificates which used to be issued in 10 days or in a week’s time are not being issued for the last 15 days. The students who visit the MROs are being told that there is no staff to process the applications. It is learnt that while 100-200 applications are pending in small mandals, 300-500 applications are pending in mandals with big towns.
Asked about it, Tahsildar Vijay Kumar said that 150 applications are currently pending in Ameenpur, a small mandal in Patancheru constituency. According to the rule, the certificate has to be issued within 40 days of submission of the application. “In most cases, it is given in 3-4 days' time, but sometimes the delay occurs because the investigation is not completed at the village level.”
MROs under pressure
Tahsidlars’ Association Khammam president Bhagavanth Reddy said,” We are unable to issue the certificates due to staff shortage. “The Mandal Revenue Officers receive hundreds of applications every day. Some MROs have already informed respective district Collectors about the pressure they are facing.”In the erstwhile Adilabad district, an average of 400 applications are pending in Tahsildar offices in Agency areas.
In Karimnagar too, the Revenue Inspectors are conducting the job of verification for giving certificates. There has been an inordinate delay in issuing certificates in Karimnagar district both in case of land and caste/income certificates for students.
Redeployed VROs
The process of redeployment of erstwhile VROs has been completed, as 5,014 VROs joined out of 5,137 VROs, which is 98%