Anbumani opposes private operation of property registration centres, land surveys

Chennai: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday opposed the Tamil Nadu government’s reported move to engage private operators for property registration services and land surveys, alleging that it would threaten jobs, increase costs for the public and worsen corruption.

In a statement, he said the state government had invited tenders to establish five model property registration centres through private operators in Ambattur, Tiruvanmiyur and T Nagar in Chennai, as well as in Chengalpattu and Coimbatore.The centres are proposed to be set up in air-conditioned malls with modern amenities, enabling people to register documents without waiting in queues, he said.

Depending on the response to the initiative, 20 more such centres are planned, Anbumani said, adding that private operators would be allowed to collect additional service charges ranging from Rs 2,090 to Rs 10,630 over and above the regular registration fees.

Pointing out that Tamil Nadu has 595 registration offices across 56 registration districts, he said there was no need to establish privately operated centres.

The Registration Department is expected to generate Rs 35,109 crore in revenue during the current financial year. Even one per cent of this amount could be used to upgrade facilities and provide air-conditioned premises at existing government offices, he said.

“Handing over these operations to private entities and allowing them to collect service charges of up to Rs 10,630 amounts to exploiting the public,” he alleged.

Rejecting the government’s clarification that private companies would provide only basic facilities while the registration process remained under government control, Anbumani compared the move to allowing a “camel’s head into a tent”.

He warned that the initiative could eventually pave the way for the complete privatisation of the Registration Department.

Turning to land surveying, Anbumani highlighted the concerns of temporary surveyors, who earn Rs 23,000 a month and have been seeking job security and higher wages.

“When these workers approached senior department officials, they were reportedly told that all land survey operations would be outsourced to private agencies from January and that contract surveyors would face termination by December,” he said, adding that the reported plan had left workers anxious about losing their livelihoods.

Anbumani alleged that corruption was widespread in both the Registration and Land Survey departments and warned that involving private agencies could worsen malpractice and lead to further irregularities.

He urged the state government to drop the proposed changes, recruit adequate personnel in both departments and improve infrastructure to provide better services directly to the public.