3 months deadline to clear land regularisation applications: Deshpande

Team Udayavani, Jun 19, 2019, 3:21 PM IST

Mangaluru: Revenue minister R V Deshpande has ordered the district administration to clear files pertaining to 94c and 94cc within three months.

The minister was speaking during the review meeting regarding preventive measures to be taken in monsoon and all issues pertaining to revenue here at DC office on Tuesday and openly expressed his displeasure with the pending clearance of 94 C and 94 CC in both urban and rural areas.

Puttur MLA Sanjeev Matandoor and Beltangady MLA Harish Poonja alleged that the revenue department is taking bribes to clear files and claimed that everyone from tahsildar to the village accountant, demand bribes to clear files. In response to the allegations, Mr Deshpande asked for clarification, to which Belthangady tahsildar Ganapathy denied the allegations and said it was false and added that he would tender his resignation if the allegations were proved.

The minister urged DC Sasikanth Senthil to visit Beltangady for inspection and take strict action against anyone found guilty of taking bribes. He also urged the tahsildar and the village accountant to give a complete report to the local MLAs regarding file clearance and avoid any confusion.

Drinking water problem

Speaking on the occasion district in-charge minister U T Khader said, “We need Rs 122 crore for the permanent solution for drinking water problems. Earlier, we were storing up to 5 meters of water in Thumbay vented dam. Now we are storing up to 6 meters. If we decide to store up to 7 meters, then several acres of farmers’ lands may get submerged in water, for which we need close to Rs 122 crore to pay compensation to the farmers.”

DC Sasikanth Senthil said, “A total of 24 villages were facing water crisis. We provided water through tankers and tackled the crisis at the earliest.”

Mr Deshpande said, “We need to improve Jaladhara scheme. Every official in the district needs to be alert. There should be no compromise in dealing with water issues.”

MLC Ivan D’ Souza said that there were many open wells in the district which are not in good condition and urged the minister to consider the matter.

Mr Senthil said, “We have old drainage system in place. Due to leakage from there, water in the open wells is being contaminated. Work has been taken up to replace old drainage systems with new ones.”