Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said that the State government will give the option to work in other departments for Village Revenue Officers (VROs), whose posts were abolished by the new Revenue Act on Friday.
He also promised government jobs for the children of Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs) who were in advanced age as most of them were from the poorer sections. The government has decided to extend pay scales to VRAs on humanitarian grounds though it cost the exchequer ₹ 260 crore annually, Mr. Rao told a 60-member delegation of Telangana Revenue Employees Services Association (TRESA) which called on him to thank for the enactment of the new revenue law.
Mr. Rao said the government always took people-centric decisions, and, in this backdrop, the new law was enacted. The Act did not go against anybody, he said and praised the revenue staff for discharging 54 responsibilities as part of their job chart alongside elections and meeting challenges of natural calamities. He asked Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who was also present, to clear promotions for all levels of officers in Revenue department and release car allowance to tahsildars regularly. He announced sanction of ₹ 60 crore for creation of facilities in tahsildar offices.
Appealing to the revenue staff and officers to work with commitment in implementing the legislation strictly as it was aimed for the benefit of all sections of people of the State, he said a visible change was required in the revenue administration from now onwards. He wished that the staff should work for the development of SCs, STs, BCs and the poor among other castes. Just as a change was visible in the functioning of the police due to awareness among the people, the same should be the case with revenue administration.
The revenue staff should be polite with people who visit their offices for settlement of grievances. The culture that existed in villages in the past, when people looked up with respect at officers who worked well, should be restored.
Reminding the staff that people were always watchful about how the former dealt with them, Mr. Rao asked them to keep this in mind and resolve their issues positively. The TRESA leaders thanked Mr. Rao for entrusting the responsibility of registration to tahsildars.
