Deputy Chief Minister (Finance and Energy) Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has directed the officials to take effective steps to ensure that the State’s income did not go into the hands of private persons.
Simultaneously, efforts should be made to mobilise additional revenue as well as explore alternative revenue streams for the government without burdening the common man. The Deputy Chief Minister chaired the meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on resource mobilisation and management on Friday. Ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, D. Sridhar Babu and Jupalli Krishna Rao and senior officials attended the meeting. Mr. Bhatti Vikramarka announced that meetings to explore avenues for increasing State’s revenues would be held once every week forthwith.
He wanted the officials to be on constant vigil to protect government lands within Hyderabad and surrounding areas and check illegal registrations of these lands and the officials concerned should effectively discharge their duties in this direction. On the revenue related issues, he said steps should be taken not only to enhance revenue through effective utilisation of natural resources like sand but it should be available to the common people when required.
The government was continuing the sand policy of the previous government but there were reports over steep escalation of the cost of the sand which had become unaffordable to common man. Officials should examine the reasons behind the escalation and take corrective measures. Effort should be make to conduct open auction of sand as also to store it in the agriculture market yards so that common people could easily access it.
Officials were cautioned against giving scope for a situation where people approached private persons for purchase of sand besides exploring avenues for increasing revenues in housing construction and other sectors. On the leased government properties, he favoured review of lease rates along with an exercise to revise the rates particularly in HMDA area, industrial estates and others for mobilisation of additional revenue.
The HMDA officials should lay emphasis on ORR surroundings as there was scope for increasing revenue through effective coordination between various departments. He enquired about the applications received under the Layout Regularisation Scheme and progress in their processing.
With Excise revenue becoming a key resource to the government, he enquired about the regulation of distilleries, how they reconciled the stock in production centres and stock that would be released into the market. Steps should be taken to prevent non-duty paid liquor so that there was no dent to the State’s revenues. Besides, officials were asked to give report on systems to prevent adulteration of liquor like special security holograms and measures taken to increase check posts on the borders.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Mr. Sridhar Babu suggested steps to prevent leakage of revenue in the form of illegal supply of liquor as also the reports on irregularities in transport of sand from Godavari basin areas.
