Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has scaled down the powers of Tahsildars who have decided to launch an agitation from July 9 against the delay of the state government in resolving their pending demands.
The government issued orders at the midnight of July 8 relieving 18 Tahsildars from their duties as Municipal Commissioners. The state government had posted these 18 Tahsildars as commissioners with full additional charge of newly-created municipalities in the state.
The state government and the State Election Commission are preparing for the elections to municipalities as soon as possible.
The state government's view is that with the Tahsildars Association's decision to observe work to rule from July 9 to 12 (working in their offices from 10.30 am to 5 pm), the ongoing pre-election process as well as the election work will be affected.
The state government has thus relieved the Tahsildars from municipal duties and appointed mandal development officers as temporary commissioners of Raikal, Dharmapuri, Makthal, Bho-othpur, Kosgi, Mancherial, Thumkunta, Nandikonda, Chityal , Haliya, Chandur, Amangal, Thirumalgiri, Pochampally, Amarchintha and Yadagirigutta municipalities.
The Tahasildars have decided to go on mass casual leave on July 15.
Mr Gowtham Kumar, president of the Telangana Tahsildars' Association, said that the government has not cracked any whip against them as was being claimed by the authorities.
“We have been demanding for quite some time that the state government relieve the Tahsildars from the additional burden of taking care of the new municipalities, apart from looking after their respective revenue mandals. The action of the government is in no way connected with the agitation. It is an administrative step,” Mr Kumar said.
