MROs don’t work without taking bribe, farmers allege

Hyderabad: The brutal killing of Abdullapurmet mandal revenue officer K Vijaya Reddy has unleashed a slew of allegations against revenue department staff.

Farmers across the state who frequently visit revenue offices for pattadar passbooks and land mutations, accuse revenue officers of not doing their work unless they are bribed.

Ms Latha, wife of K. Suresh, prime accused in the killing of Vijaya Reddy, said her husband had told her that he had killed the revenue officer because she had demanded money for issuing a patta for his land. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has several times referred to the corruption in the revenue department and said he wants to weed it out by enacting a new revenue law.

It is not surprising that data from the Anti-Corruption Bureau reveals that of the 207 cases of bribery, it has booked in past two years, 50 cases are against revenue department staff and officers. In these cases, most of the employees named are in the ranks of revenue divisional officer, tahsildar, deputy tahsildar, village revenue officers and revenue inspectors and they demand bribes ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 5 lakh. According to the ACB, a revenue official working within the periphery of Hyderabad Outer Ring Road demands a bribe in lakhs.