Hans news service Huzurnagar

A building owner locked the Tahsildar office in Palakeedumandal of Suryapet district on Thursday, alleging that the authorities had failed to pay the rent due to him for the past two years.

According to building owner Kasireddy Janardhan Reddy, the government is required to pay a monthly rent of Rs13,800 for the premises. However, he alleged that the rent had not been paid for the past two years. With no resolution despite repeatedly bringing the issue to the notice of officials, he finally locked the Tahsildar office.

Reddy stated two years would be completed on September 19 since the rent payments stopped.

He alleged that officials had assured him that the monthly rent would be paid regularly, but the payments were not made.

He also claimed that the authorities had agreed to increase the rent by five per cent once every two years, but the promised revision had also not been implemented. Expressing frustration over the delay, the building owner said he had approached several people regarding the pending rent but received no satisfactory response. With no other option left, he said he was compelled to lock the Tahsildar office to draw attention to the issue.

Palakeedumandal of Huzurnagar constituency of Suryapet district was newly formed in Suryapet district in 2016. As the newly established mandal did not have a government building to accommodate its offices, the authorities have been operating various government offices from rented premises. The Tahsildar office has also been functioning from a rented building since then.