Mumbai, Apr 2 (PTI) Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Thursday said the state government has approved a revised structure of the revenue department, taking the total strength of staffers to 35,876, including 1,300 ones hired through external sources.

The move is aimed at ensuring time-bound services to citizens.

The government approved the revised structure after about 20 years as the earlier arrangement was finalised in 2006.

A government resolution to this effect was issued on Thursday, a statement by Revenue Minister Bawankule said.

“The revenue department is the backbone of the administration and the revised structure has been approved considering the increase in workload and needs of people,” he said.

The approved structure includes 34,576 regular posts and 1,300 posts through external sources, taking the total to 35,876, he added.

The statement said the decision was taken under the guidance of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to address the workload in the revenue administration and ensure time-bound services to citizens. The revised structure covers the stamps, land records and revenue wings.

Bawankule held discussions with Chief Secretary Rajesh Agarwal and Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Vikas Kharge before a committee headed by the chief secretary approved the proposal.

“The revised structure will bring order in administrative work, reduce the need for people to travel long distances and increase the speed of work,” Bawankule said.

It will improve functioning and support a transparent and dynamic administration, he added.

The government approved a new administrative framework covering offices at division, district and taluka levels. It includes six divisional commissionerates, 36 collector offices, 192 sub-divisional offices and 360 tehsildar offices. At the field level, 2,625 circle offices and 15,747 talathi posts have been sanctioned.

The government also approved 11 additional collector offices, eight sub-divisional offices, two tehsildar offices and 69 additional tehsildar offices for administrative purposes. PTI ND NP