Patwaris suspended for fake crop entries on barren land; govt orders recovery, probe widens

Cracking down on large-scale manipulation of agricultural records, Public Health Engineering and Public Works Minister Ranbir Gangwa on Wednesday ordered the immediate suspension of the patwaris of Shambli and Amupur villages after an inquiry exposed fraudulent crop entries on officially non-cultivable land. The minister also directed recovery of government funds wrongfully claimed through these registrations and issued show-cause notices to both sarpanches for allegedly approving OTP verifications without mandatory on-ground checks.

The action follows a consolidated report submitted by a three-member team comprising the District Revenue Officer (DRO), Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA) and District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO). The findings were placed before the District Public Relations and Grievance Redressal Committee, chaired by the minister at the Panchayat Bhawan.

According to the report, paddy and wheat were falsely shown as cultivated during 2023-24 and 2024-25 on panchayat land that is categorised as non-cultivable. Despite this classification, the land was uploaded and registered on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora (MFMB) portal. DDPO Kanchan Lata and DDA Dr Wazir Singh reported that six acres in Amupur and 24 acres in Shambli were wrongfully recorded as active farmland.

An official explained that patwaris are responsible for blocking non-cultivable land on the MFMB portal to prevent misuse, but this safeguard failed. Reiterating the government’s zero-tolerance approach, the minister said, “In both Shambli and Amupur, wrongful and excessive crop registrations were done. The patwaris failed in their core duty, and action will be taken against them. It was the duty of the patwaris to block the non-cultivable land…but this was not done.”

Along with the suspensions, the minister ordered recovery from individuals who benefitted through these entries. Citing one such case, he said a man named Ishwar had shown additional cultivated land by entering crops on panchayat and other non-agricultural areas in two seasons. “Directions have been issued to recover the full amount, if availed, from him, failing which a criminal case will be registered,” he stated.

Deputy Commissioner Uttam Singh confirmed that the probe would continue and that monitoring of MFMB entries had been intensified to ensure transparency and prevent further misuse of panchayat land.

During the committee meeting, seven complaints were resolved on the spot, while six were deferred to the next session. Responding to queries on the Lado Lakshmi Yojana, the minister said the Chief Minister released the second instalment today and that “the CM has fulfilled a key election promise by allocating Rs 5,000 crore in the very first Budget.”

On road safety, he said the state had resolved over 4,000 of the 7,000 complaints received through the Mhari Sadak mobile application.