Chandigarh: A day after village revenue officials in Punjab went on a pen-down strike to protest against a staff crunch, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has promised fresh appointments in the state’s patwar circles.
A patwar circle is a geographical area under the command of a patwari, a village revenue official who helps maintain land records, execute government orders and deal with the public on revenue-related matters.
In a climbdown from his previous stance of invoking the East Punjab Essential Services (Maintenance) Act (EPESMA) — a law that prohibits some essential services from going on strike — Mann has now promised to deploy 700 under-training officials and expedite the process of handing appointment letters to 700 more. In addition, he promised to fill 600 more positions.
ਪਟਵਾਰੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਸਬੰਧਤ ਅਹਿਮ ਫ਼ੈਸਲੇ ਦਾ ਵੇਰਵਾ ਸਾਂਝਾ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਹਾਂ… Live https://t.co/hs7xVq0Pg8
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) September 2, 2023
According to the Revenue Patwar Union, the state has over 3,000 vacant positions, forcing current employees to work beyond their mandate.
Protesters have also been demanding a reduction in the training period from the current 18 months to a year, and basic pay instead of the stipend of Rs 5,000 currently being offered to those still under training.
Significantly, patwaris continue to work in their own revenue circles but have refused to work in areas that don’t have a revenue official.
Despite the shift in the government’s stand, Revenue Patwar Union president Harveer Singh Dhindsa said that although they welcomed the government’s decision, they would continue their strike until the new patwaris joined work. He also said that the terms of the chief minister’s latest announcement are still unclear.
“The chief minister has not made it clear whether the 700 under-training patwaris who join immediately will be given their full pay or if they will continue to get the Rs 5,000 stipend for the remainder of their training period. Also, will the 700 patwaris who will be given appointment letters undergo training for a year or for 18 months,” he asked.
Biometric attendance for patwaris
Last month, both Revenue Patwar Union and Revenue Kanungo Association announced a pen-down strike from 1 September. Kanungos, like patwaris, are village-level revenue officials.
The announcement came after months-long talks with the state government failed.
On Wednesday, Mann threatened to dismiss the patwaris who went on strike.
ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੇ ਕੁਝ ਕਰਮਚਾਰੀ ਜਿਹੜੇ ਬਹੁਤ ਤਨਖਾਹਾਂ ਲੈਂਦੇ ਨੇ ਕਹਿੰਦੇ ਹੜਤਾਲ ਕਰਾਂਗੇ…ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਖੱਜਲ ਕਰਕੇ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਆਪਣੇ ਕੰਮ ਦੀ ਜ਼ਿੰਮੇਵਾਰੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਨਿਭਾ ਰਹੇ…ਜੇ ਕਲਮ ਛੋੜ ਹੜਤਾਲ ਹੀ ਕਰਨੀ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਸੁਣ ਲਵੋ ਬਾਅਦ ‘ਚ ਛੱਡੀ ਹੋਈ ਕਲਮ ਦਾ ਕੀ ਕਰਨਾਂ ਉਹ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਤੈਅ ਕਰੇਗੀ..ਸਾਡੇ ਸਾਰਿਆਂ ਲਈ ਲੋਕ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਹੋਣੇ ਚਾਹੀਦੇ ਨੇ…ਜਾਇਜ਼ ਮੰਗਾਂ… pic.twitter.com/DqZmqqIBZr
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) August 30, 2023
Revenue officials, however, refused to budge, announcing that the strike would continue. They said that they would continue to work in their own circles, but would not take on any additional responsibilities — that is, work for the vacant circles.
In his video message Saturday, Mann didn’t refer to any action against the protesting patwaris. He did, however, claim that he had several complaints of patwaris hiring people to complete their work.
“In order to ensure that the patwaris posted in a patwar circle do their own work, they will now have to register their attendance biometrically,” Mann said.
Dhindsa told ThePrint there was an anomaly in the chief minister’s message. While Mann said there were 3,660 patwar circles in the state, Dhindsa says the actual number is 4,716.
“There was a move to reduce this number last year against which we went on strike, and, after talks with the government, we were promised that the number would not be reduced. But it seems that even that promise has not been kept and the officers have given a reduced number to the chief minister,” he claimed.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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