Karnataka: Citizens suffer as new taluks lack admin buildings

Hubballi: Only nine of the 63 taluks that were created in Karnataka between 2017 and 2020 have their own administrative building, an unfortunate state of affairs that is hobbling the government’s effort to decentralise services and inconveniencing citizens.

Accessing land records, documents and other government services are turning into a hassle as all the departments are not functioning under a single roof or a majority of the files are still with the headquarters of the undivided taluk.

When the taluks were first formed, it kindled a lot of hopes, especially those in rural areas who felt that it would obviate the need for travelling long distances to get their work done. Those hopes have been dashed.

With a majority of the administrative buildings still incomplete, the government has not shifted the records section and treasury to new taluk headquarters. 

Farmer Basavaraj Hunasimarad is one of those who have been hit hard. Hailing from Bhivashi in Nippani taluk, Hunasimarad’s hardship to get land records has doubled after the creation of a new taluk.

“Earlier, I had to travel 45 km to Chikkodi to get official work done. After Nippani taluk was formed, I have to first travel to Chikkodi to get papers and next to Nippani town (9 km from his village) as authorising officials sit there,” he said.

Nippani Tahsildar M N Baligar conceded that government documents related to several departments are still in Chikkodi — the earlier taluk headquarters of Nippani — which is causing “hardship to people”.

“We have submitted a proposal to construct a taluk administration office and land for this has already been identified,” he said.

Then there is the issue of staff shortage. Almost all the new taluk offices are facing 30 per cent to 50 per cent shortage of staff, hampering the smooth conduct of office work.

Officials in the Revenue Department said the government is giving approval for the construction of new taluk administration buildings in a phased manner due to financial constraints.

According to them, it would take another four to five years for all the taluks to get principal approval for identifying suitable land for constructing buildings.

Similar sentiments were expressed by deputy commissioners and tahsildars of Ramanagara, Dakshina Kannada, Vijayapura and other districts, where people are finding it difficult to get work done.

“Appointing just tahsildars will not resolve the issues at the taluk administration office. We need staff at women and child development, land surveyors, agriculture department and other departments,” said a tahsildars from one of Vijayapura’s newly formed taluks.

Rajender Kumar Kataria, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, said during
the recent Cabinet meeting in Kalaburagi, the government approved identifying land for constructing administrative buildings in 20 new taluks.

“The government is rationalising its resources and coming up with building plans that can accommodate important departments in a single building so that all the services can be provided under a single roof. Only 29 new taluks need to identify land for office buildings and soon we will be approving the proposals,” he said.