Patwaris completed survey without visiting fields: Farmers

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, May 3

Questions are being raised over transparency while assessing losses of farmers following unseasonal rain and hailstorm. The Haryana Government has come under flak from several farmers as well as the Opposition.

The allegations of ignoring “justifiable” claims have been levelled by the families of Suraj Bhan (45) of Fatehabad and Vinod Kumar (30) of Sirsa who committed suicide reportedly due to crop damage.

Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Sirsa’s Kirpal Patti village, said: “Though patwaris conduct routine girdawari (revenue survey) twice a year for rabi and kharif crops, solely relying on them for the special girdawari that involves distribution of crores of rupees is bound to invite criticism.”

“When 25 per cent of damaged crop is not considered for compensation and damage of 26 per cent attracts substantial amount of relief, a lowly paid patwari may not be in a position to exercise objectivity and transparency,” he said. Mann suggested inclusion of agricultural experts in survey teams.

Jasbir Singh Jassa, state executive member of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), alleged most of the patwaris completed the survey without visiting the fields. “The officials normally sit in a house of an influential villager and complete girdawari proceedings of the entire village there by calling a meeting of some influential villagers. The possibility of leaving out deserving villagers due to personal grudges of patwaris or the influential few is never ruled out,” he claimed.

“Senior bureaucrats are supposed to visit fields, but many of them do so for photographs to be published in newspapers,” Jassa added.

Sirsa SDM Paramjit Singh Chahal said patwaris alone were not entrusted the job of special girdawari.

“Tehsildars or naib tehsildar assisted by patwari are required to visit all fields under the special girdawari. The SDM checks 25 per cent of the fields, while Deputy Commissioners and Commissioners are required to check 10 per cent and 2 per cent of fields randomly,” he added.