Government to form ‘revenue ranges’, Sr IAS officers to be mentors

HYDERABAD: The state government is all set to launch another set of reforms in the revenue department. The plan is to set up one ‘revenue range’ for every three districts. A senior official will be appointed as a mentor for each range for effective monitoring of revenue collection.  After reorganisation of the districts and purification of land records, the government is now focusing on revenue ranges to increase the revenue of the state and usher in development outside Hyderabad. 

According to sources, the government is likely to name the new administrative as either revenue range or revenue development commissioner. Such a system is in place in states like Bihar.  For the new administrative set-up, the government will exclude Hyderabad and form ten revenue ranges for the rest of 30 districts. For each range, consisting of three districts, one senior IAS officer will be appointed as mentor who will coordinate the work from Hyderabad.

If there are any disputes or any issues surface in the new ranges, the respective senior official will guide the district collectors. After the formation of new districts, sub-junior IAS officers were posed as district collectors. Moreover, there was no better coordination among the collectors, ministers and MLAs in districts. The senior IAS officers from Hyderabad, in-charges of ranges, will help the collectors take suitable decisions, sources said. 

Once the revenue ranges are formed, there will be no need for frequent district collectors’ conferences to be conducted by the chief minister. The ten senior officials (mentors) will coordinate with three district collectors each and the mentors will, in return, report the developments to the chief minister. Later, they will pass the necessary instructions to the collectors under their control, the sources said.