Bihar: Minister promises action against officers delaying land mutation

Responding to concerns expressed by members across party lines, the minister assured the Legislative Council that he would personally look into the issue of inordinate delay in land mutations.

Bihar revenue minister Ram Surat Rai on Wednesday promised action against officers found deliberately delaying mutation of land beyond the 15-day timeframe in the state. Rai was responding in Legislative Council to leaders across party lines alleging land mutation process in the state to be tardy.

Minister Ram Surat Rai was cornered by MLCs across party lines raising the issue of delay in land mutations in the state. (Courtesy- Livehindustan.com)

The minister’s response was followed by a debate over RJD MLC Ramachandra Purbe’s allegation that the majority of land mutation applications, nearly 80,000 out of 1.50 lakh, were pending for disposal at 23 circle offices in Patna, leading to harassment of people. “Intermediaries are actually calling the shots in the mutation process,” alleged the RJD member.

Supporting Purbe’s contention, Sanjeev Shyam Singh of the JD(U) said that the application for mutation of his own land was pending for disposal in Ara for the past eight-nine months. Another JD(U) member Neeraj Kumar said the web-based application, Parimarjan, meant to facilitate mutation was not working properly.

Responding to the members’ concerns, the minister assured the house that he would personally look into the issue and take the officers, found guilty of delaying the process on one pretext or the other, to task.

Bihar deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad, who holds the charge of urban development department, assured the legislative council that the department will conduct a survey of dilapidated water pipelines in Patna and order their replacement to ensure safe potable water to residents.

The assurance came following a short-notice question by Congress member Prem Chandra Mishra, who alleged that Patna residents were condemned to drink contaminated water owing to old, rusting and leaking pipelines. Mishra sought to know why Patna was ranked lowest on the Clean City parameters and CM’s home district of Bihar Sharif stood in 374th position in the cleanliness survey conducted by the Central government despite Patna’s selection under the Smart City mission.

The deputy CM said that nearly ₹469.79 crore out of the total ₹896 crore allotted to Bihar, under smart city and Swachha Bharat missions, were yet to be spent. He said door to door collection had started in 3,351 out of 3,396 wards of 142 urban local bodies and solid waste management installations were being set up to ensure cleanliness of town areas.