With patwaris (revenue officials) going on an indefinite pen-down strike to protest against the registration of a corruption case against their colleagues, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced the deputation of under-training patwaris in the field as well as made biometric attendance mandatory for them in a bid to rein in the striking officials.

“This is the government of the people and the common man will not face any harassment due to whims and fancies of any agitation of the government officials,” said the CM in a statement issued on Saturday.

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The CM said there are a total of 3,660 posts of patwaris in the state out of which 1623 are filled. However, he said that keeping in view larger public interest the state government has now decided to fill 2037, more posts of patwaris in a time-bound manner.

Mann said against these 2037 posts, 741 patwaris who have already completed 15 months of training out of the mandatory 18 months are being put on duty as regular patwari in the field. He said 710 patwaris have already been selected through a transparent recruitment process but they have not been yet given the appointment letters in the wake of some pending formalities.

The CM said these necessary conditions will be fulfilled soon and the newly recruited patwaris will be handed over the appointment letters in the coming days. He said 586 posts of patwaris will also be advertised soon so as to give a chance to the youth of Punjab to serve the state.

Taking strict cognizance of a trend amongst patwaris to hire some people to further their work, the CM announced biometric attendance will be now compulsory for patwaris.

He said this will ensure that Patwaris perform their duty efficiently during office hours without creating any inconvenience to the people.

Mann said the state government is committed to providing clean, efficient, responsive and transparent administration to the people and no stone will be left unturned for this noble cause.

Under the banner of the Revenue Patwar Union and the Revenue Kanungo Association, over 2,000 employees have called for an indefinite pen-down strike from Friday to protest the registration of a corruption case against a ‘patwari’ and a ‘kanungo’ (both revenue officials) in Sangrur district a week ago.

The president of the Revenue Patwar Union, Harvir Singh Dhindsa, maintains patwaris and kanungos (revenue officials) will do the flood-related work only in the patwar circle of their posting and no work will be done in the circles for which the officials have been given additional charge as patwaris’ posts are lying vacant.

This pen-down strike is affecting the revenue department work across the state as out of the 4,716 revenue circles, patwaris are posted only in 1,500 circles.