JORHAT, March 6 - The All Assam Mandal Kanangu Sanmilani (All Assam Revenue Department Employees� Association) has stated that mandals and kanangus across the State will undertake agitational programme in April next if the government don�t respond to their long-standing demands. The association, formed in 1926, has about 3,240 members. Its central office is in Guwahati.
President of the association Amulya Kalita told The Assam Tribune here today that in the executive meeting of the association held in Guwahati on Sunday, it was decided that the association will be �forced� to resort to agitational means if the government did not respond to their 17-point charter of demands.
Kalita said that repeated pleas to the government about the demands in recent times have failed to evoke any response. He said the demands were not only about their benefit, but many of them were related to improvement of working conditions in the revenue offices for better service delivery to the public.
The president of the Sanmilani said that as per the decision of the meeting, a memorandum has been submitted to the government through the Finance department stating that if no response was received from the latter regarding the demands then the Sanmilani will be have no option, but to resort to protest and other agitational means.
He lamented that the government has not invited the Sanmilani to discuss on the issues despite several representations. Kalita added that because of non-fulfilment of their demands, the employees have been facing several difficulties while discharging their duties and this has delayed the public services also. Filling up the vacant posts and creating new posts of mandals were major demands of the association, said Kalita. There has been huge shortage of staff in the revenue offices across the State.
Kalita added that the Revenue department staff have to perform various other duties and work as flood relief personnel and assist in magisterial inquires very often.
This has also led to the shortage of staff at the offices, he added. The president said that over the past 35 years, the government had created many new districts, civil subdivisions and revenue circles, but had not sanctioned additional staff accordingly.
Kalita said the government had recently for the first time recruited Revenue Circle Officers (90 per cent of the total posts) through APSC, but no steps has been initiated to hold departmental examinations for promotion of subordinate staff (10 per cent of the posts) to the post of Revenue Officers as earlier announced by the government. At present, in Assam, the post of Revenue Circle Officers are occupied by executive magistrates, recruited through APSC.
Initiation of field survey for resettlement of land records (making new cadastral maps) was another demand of the Sanmilani. According to rules, the survey should be done after a gap of 30 years. In Assam, it was scheduled to be done in the 90s, but except a few districts the same was yet to be done.
Kalita said because of a lot of changes taking places in ownerships of land owing to inheritance and buying and selling, new maps were required. He further said lack of adequate computers in the Revenue offices was another reason for delay in completion of work and providing computers was another prime demand.
Framing of service rules for the employees of the department and bringing them under grade pay category by giving them the status of technical employees �as mandals and Kanangus job was of technical nature�, were among the demands. Increasing the training period from six months to one year for mandals and kanangus for better skill development was also in the list of demands, Kalita said.
