Seven erring VROs suspended in Nalgonda district

After a hectic Rythu Bandhu programme last week, and a review of its implementation by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday, the district administration here suspended four erring village revenue officers (VROs).

Nalgonda, with the maximum number of villages, agriculture lands and khatas (farmers’ accounts) in the State had earlier taken disciplinary action taken against eight VRO till April, and some 100 show cause notices and memos served on its various revenue officials.

However, a range of mistakes, from as unique as giving a ₹ 10 input subsidy cheque — instead of the standard Rs. 4,000 — to including beneficiaries of non-agricultural lands, and missing out actual beneficiaries, the district has set many examples.

Pointless action

According to official sources, a total 17 VROs from across the 31 mandals have been identified for suspension, for malpractice, and four were suspended on Friday.

However, for Tahsildars, who went through the hectic Land Records Updation Programme (LRUP) and now Rythu Bandhu, suspension of a few VROs towards the fag end of the programme is pointless.

“The threat is in the way LRUP was hurried, heavily depending on inefficient VROs and outsourced operators for online updation of records,” an official said.

Joint Collector C. Narayana Reddy cautioned all the officers in the run up to Rythu Bandhu programme. “There is a difference in the manual records and online numbers of farmers.

Records not verified

Some records posted by VROs are not verified by the Tahsildars, but were authorised. Mistakes have happened. So rectify and do a better job now,” he said.

Chief Minister during his review is reported to have pulled up the district collectors for the poor performance.

“Earlier, surrendering of VROs for malpractice did not get them a punishment, but a posting in the Collectorate. Only this week, my mandal known for weak VROs have been extended support by their supervisors,” a Tahsildar says.

The appointment of a senior IAS officer to supervise Rythu Bandhu preparation and execution in the district is expected to improve performance, in the second leg of the prestigious programme, officials say.