Govt to dismiss 972 temporary employees from Revenue department

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than two lakh applications are piled up for land-type conversions. Albeit this, the chief secretary has decided not to extend the service of 972 temporary employees in the revenue department. The alternate measure to cope with the void of 972 employees should be mentioned in a new report. On a daily basis, 500 applications are reaching the office. If the government fails to come up with a prudent solution, the land type conversion system in the state will fail nevertheless.

Keralakaumudi earlier reported about the two lakh paper applications which were pending in the office. For that, the service of 990 temporary clerks was extended for another six months. Within six months, the aim was to bring the online applications received every month to the point where a decision is made in that month itself. Fort Kochi RDO office has the highest backlog of online applications - 23,468.

Processing of paper applications is also nearing completion. 7619 applications are pending in various RDO offices where technical errors have been found. This too will be settled soon. The special scheme was launched in March 2022 following news published by Kerala Kaumudi about pending applications. Of the total 2,12,169 applications received, 2,04,550 were settled before November 30. The government received Rs 198.58 crores through land type conversion via the special scheme.

According to insider reports, the government initiated the current move as a retributive step for the temporary employees starting a new organization inside the department. The salaries for two months were pending which forced the temporary workers to start new workers' organization.

For new appointments in the revenue department, the employee exchange should be informed. Anyways, the process will take another three months to complete, meanwhile, the application is expected to turn a mountain.