Punjab appoints 741 patwaris amid pen-down strike by revenue officials

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann announces the appointment of patwaris who have completed 15 months of training, introduction of biometric attendance

Amid the ongoing pen-down strike by revenue officials, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced the appointment of 741 new patwaris, who are undergoing training at present, and said that applications will be invited through an advertisement for 586 new posts of patwari.

Closed rooms at the Patwar Bhawan in Bathinda during the strike called by revenue official unions on Friday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

In a video message shared on social media, Mann said biometric attendance would be compulsory for patwaris. “There were a lot of complaints from the public that patwaris are not present in offices and in many cases they have hired private persons for the job. From now on, marking attendance using thumb impression has been made compulsory for which biometric machines will be installed in patwar circles,” the chief minister said.

He said the government would immediately appoint 741 patwaris who have completed 15 months of training.

“Their training schedule is 18 months. But the government has decided to cut short their training by three months to immediately appoint them in patwar circles,” Mann said.

He said appointment letters would be given to 710 more patwaris whose appointments were in hold pending verification of credentials. “These appointments were pending because of police verifcation and other issues. I have asked the home department to expedite the process so that we can give them appointment letters,” Mann said.

The Revenue Patwar Union and the Revenue Kanungo Association, which had initially called for an indefinite pen-down strike from September 1, over a corruption case registered against a patwari and a kanungo (both revenue officials) in Sangrur a week ago, softened their stand on Thursday after the Punjab government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). This barred government officials and employees from leaving their place of posting till October 31 or till further orders. The government said it would take strict penal action for violation of orders.

The patwaris claimed that before the registration of the case against the two officials, approvals were not taken from the deputy commissioner and the financial commissioner.