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Patwaris extend strike again in Haryana, services hit
The protesters are on strike to press for the fulfilment of their longstanding demands, including revision of pay scales, recruitment on vacant posts and other issues.
Registration of sale deeds and other revenue-related works remained hit in Haryana as the patwaris and kanungos continued their strike.
The Revenue Patwar and Kanungo Association, Haryana, had on January 3 announced suspension of work for three days and after a gap of two days over the weekend, it was extended to three days again after no invitation from the state authorities for talks.
The protesters are on strike to press for the fulfilment of their longstanding demands, including revision of pay scales, recruitment on vacant posts and other issues.
Padam Kumar, president of the Karnal body, said they are aware that the public have to face inconvenience, but their demands are genuine too and government should look into it.
“Karnal is facing an acute shortage of patwaris due to which the work is adversely affected. There are 153 patwar circles for 436 villages and of them, 99 are lying vacant,” he told HT.
Due to the strike, residents have to face inconvenience in the absence of patwaris in their offices. Officials said only those sale deeds were registered for which tokens were issued before the commencement of the strike last week. Services like issuance of domicile certificates, income and caste certificates, mutation, jama-bandi, intekaal and other works like Kisan credit cards, home loans, girdwari and others are hit.
Many people were seen outside the Patwarkhana in Nyaypuri area of Karnal, while the offices of tehsildar and district revenue officer (DRO) at mini secretariat wore a deserted look due to the strike.
Rajesh Kumar, who travelled for over 20 km from his village in Kunjpura area said, “I have been here for three times and this is the second time that I have come here this week. I had to get patwari’s signatures on some loan documents. I was told the strike will be over by Friday, but the offices are still closed.”
Gokul, a resident of Ladwa area in Kurukshetra, said he had to travel to city in this bitter cold only to realise that the office work is hit due to the strike.
The situation is similar in other districts of the state.
In a memorandum, state president Jai Veer Chahal said, “We have been struggling to get what we were promised by the chief minister last year. A revised pay of ₹32,100 from 2016 was agreed upon, notification was released, but an amended one issued later mentioned about the increase from 2023, which is a breach of promise. We met senior officials of the department, who agreed to our demand, but it was never fulfilled.”
