Hyderabad: Revenue’s ticking up, but the knives are out.
At the Secretariat on Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka headed a meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Resource Mobilisation. Three senior ministers – Uttam Kumar Reddy, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, and Jupally Krishna Rao – sat in with him. Top brass from nearly every major revenue-generating department showed up.
Bhatti said the Commercial Taxes Department had pulled in a 6% boost over last year. Not bad. But then came the catch: in March, they’d set themselves a ₹600 crore goal through CST and VAT. Only ₹500 crore actually came through. “We need structure,” he told officials. “Get a plan. Stick to it.”
His attention turned next to the Excise Department. Any leakages, he said, must be plugged. No soft corners. Meanwhile, flat and apartment sales were doing okay – but land sales? Agricultural plots, open layouts? Still sluggish. The ministers told the departments to dig into it and fix what’s holding it back.
On the Transport side, they flagged the new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system. It’s in place – but not widespread. The group said roll it out, and fast. Across departments. Use it to run large-scale inspections.
Tribal Welfare came under the scanner too. Ministers ordered that sand sales in tribal belts be routed strictly through tribal societies. No middlemen. And the real beneficiaries? Identify them. Enrol them. Make sure it’s actual tribal members who pocket the income, not proxies. “Take this seriously,” they warned the department. “No room for error.”
Revenue officials got a nudge on government lands – especially in district centres. Ministers said locate the valuable parcels and secure them without delay. HMDA, meanwhile, was asked to get moving on pending construction permits.
Among those present: Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, R&B Principal Secretary Vikas Raj, CCLA Commissioner Naveen Mittal, Commercial Taxes Principal Secretary Rizvi, Mines & Geology Principal Secretary Sridhar, Industries Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar, Commercial Taxes Commissioner Haritha, Transport Commissioner Surendra Mohan, Registration Commissioner Buddha Prakash Jyothi, and Deputy CM’s Special Secretary Krishna Bhaskar.