Collector vows to make ‘public grievances redressal’ more effective

Anantapur: District Collector Dr Vinod Kumar is applying his mind on making the 'public grievances platform' being held every Monday, an effective grievances redressal system.

Being a platform in force throughout the State, it is expected to solve the problems encountered by people. This platform is a reflection of people's genuine problems, particularly those encountered by the helpless, voiceless poorer sections of the society. The vulnerable sections of people face genuine problems like illegal occupation or encroachment of their lands which are below five acres.

The mighty landlords, so called high caste people grab their lands and they are locked in disputes. In most cases, the tahsildars reportedly support the mighty ones. One Saramma, a 70-year-old lady of Thimampeta village in Garladinne mandal has been fighting for her share of her crop land, grabbed by her own brothers. All she wanted was her share of land of one-and-a-half acre. She has been waging her battle for 20 years. No tahsildhar was sympathetic towards her, she bemoaned.

These land disputes are in hundreds unresolved for decades. For these victims of injustice, the government is not for them. Why can't 'Revenue Melas' or ‘Land Melas' be conducted under the chairmanship of the Collector for an on-the-spot settlement of the disputes. In some cases, disputes were created taking advantage of the helplessness of the victims while actually there are no real disputes. These land-grabbers do not have a fear of law, government or the courts.

The casual attitude of the tahsildhars and MDOs towards simple services like issuing of caste certificates, Adangals, passbooks, ration cards etc has been the subject of criticism. For the poor, life revolves around what is viewed as trivial things.

Social observers and members of civil society organisations feel the grievances redressal platform should be taken seriously by mandal-level officers. What do these simple people ask for is justice and social security schemes implementation without discrimination on political lines. Many are victims of local politics.

When justice eludes them, the District Collector is the only hope. The Collector would do well by facilitating a phone-in programme once in a month to personally enable the hapless people to call him directly and complain, if their grievances are not being addressed at mandal level.

This opinion is being expressed in many mandals by the people. The District Collector took a couple of tahsildars to task for sending the aggrieved to the grievances cell at the Collectorate when actually it is their duty to issue Adangals etc.

Collector Vinod told The Hans India that after he assumed charge, he had been making efforts to infuse dynamism into the officers who are lethargic and ensure justice to aggrieved people. Soon, he would arrange a dedicated line to enable people to call him directly if they think justice is not meted out to them.