the goan I network
MARGAO
Blame it on teething problems or otherwise, the Citizens Service Centre (CSC) launched in Salcete with much fanfare in June has left many a Saxttikar to run from pillar to post in respect of obtaining survey records, including Form B from the centre.
Making matters worse for the citizens is the order issued by the Under Secretary, Revenue mandating the Director of Land Survey and the Land Survey office in Margao not to entertain any applications for issuance of survey plans and direct the applicants to the Citizens Service Centre.
Citizens, who had approached the CSC housed on the ground floor of the Matanhy Saldanha Administrative Complex, with applications for issuance of survey plans, especially Form B, have returned home saying the CSC has refused to entertain applications for Form B of the survey records. Left with no option, citizens take the trouble to knock the doors of the Land Survey office located upstairs in the same building, only to be turned back by officials on grounds that the Revenue Under Secretary’s order does not allow the Land Survey office to entertain any applications for survey plans or Form B.
A local scribe Savio Dias, who had approached the CSC for Form B told The Goan that his application was not accepted by the centre on grounds that the Form B plan is not available with the office. “I had approached the CSC after an order in a partition case was passed by the Deputy Collector. But, the CSC has only records as far as confirmed cases are concerned, and the data is not updated in provisional cases,” Dias said.
Sources in the Margao Land Survey office said the office is helpless in mitigating the hardships faced by the citizens given that the Revenue Under Secretary’s order has barred the office and the office of the Director of Land Survey not to entertain any applications for survey plans or Form B. “Many citizens approach the Land Survey office after they are not entertained at the CSC. But, we are helpless since the order bars the office from accepting any application form,” an official said.
An official manning the CSC admitted in private that they are trying to rectify the problem of issuance of Form B at the CSC. “We have not accepted the application forms of the applicants since the data is not available. We are now planning to put a system in place, wherein the CSC will accept the applications and send them to the Land Survey office located upstairs for the Form B records,” the official said, adding that the new system should hopefully fall in place in a day or two and will resolve the problems faced by the citizens.
Citizens, however, felt that the government should not have imposed a blanket ban on issuance of various documents by the Land Survey office or by the taluka Mamlatdars and deputy Collectors for the benefit of the public.
Tuesday saw former Margao Municipal councillor Damu Shirodkar complaining of the huge delay in the issuance of a residential certificates by the CSC and that too after payment of fees. “The token system introduced by the CSC needs a review. They issue a token which is valid for two hours,” he said.
Another woman echoed similar sentiments, saying that the service should be prompt and not keep the citizens waiting for hours.
