Hyderabad: Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Monday said that corruption would be curbed with the construction of integrated Sub-Registrar offices across the state. He said that in line with the vision of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, several reforms have been introduced in the Stamps and Registration Department to ensure services that are efficient, simple, transparent and corruption-free for citizens visiting Sub-Registrar offices.

The minister was replying to a question raised by MLC AVN Reddy in the Legislative Council.

He said the government was ending the practice of people waiting for hours under trees for property registration. “The integrated Sub-Registrar office system will curb corruption. Of the 144 Sub-Registrar offices in the state, 94 are functioning in rented buildings and 50 in government buildings. Permanent buildings will be constructed for them in three phases,” he said, adding that integrated offices were being developed in a phased manner to ensure public convenience without causing administrative difficulties.

In the first phase, 39 Sub-Registrar offices in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal and Sangareddy districts within the Outer Ring Road have been grouped into 11 clusters, where integrated buildings are being constructed. These 39 offices contribute nearly 69 per cent of the state’s registration revenue, he noted.

Referring to the Telangana Academy of Land Information and Management (TALIM) at Gachibowli, covering RO Rangareddy, Gandipet, Serilingampally and Rajendranagar, the minister said the foundation stone had already been laid by the Chief Minister.

He said foundation stones for the remaining 10 integrated Sub-Registrar buildings would be laid by the end of this month. Private builders would construct the buildings without any expenditure by the government, with three to four acres of land allotted for each office. In the second phase, buildings would be constructed in district centres and, in the third phase, in constituencies. The private firm would maintain the buildings for the first five years at no cost to the government. The minister also said that the introduction of the slot booking system had significantly reduced registration time, with each document being processed in 18 to 21 minutes.