Computer operators sore over state govt’s decision to shut Fard Kendras

Around 950 computer operators, who played a key role in the computerisation of land records across Punjab and helped improve governance, have urged the Punjab Government to review its decision of closing down Fard Kendras and shifting the work to Sewa Kendras.

Though presently, too, they are employees of CMS Computers Limited and work for a monthly wage of Rs 10,000, they fear the apprehended cessation of their income will force them to withdraw their wards from schools and lead their spouses to work menial jobs to keep the fire in their kitchens burning.

Led by Gagan Deep Singh, operators at the Fard Kendras regretted that instead of recognising their key role in the Punjab Land Records Society (PLRS) project, the Punjab Government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, had initiated the process to shift their assignment to Sewa Kendra, a decision that would render 950 computer operators jobless.

“While we were expecting that the Aam Aadmi Party-led government will reward us for computerising all old land records and digitising maps (masavis), which we did by spending sleepless nights, the government is bent upon destabilising our families by rendering us jobless,” said Gagan.

In a communication, addressed to CM Bhawant Mann, and Revenue Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian, the operators have urged them to review their decision of scrapping their services. They pleaded the government to save their families from collapsing as a majority of them hail from landless poor families.

The operators said the government should draw the difference in revenue incomes of the state before and after the computerisation of the records, as the evaluation would prove they were the backbone of the state exchequer.

“It is on record that the direct income for issuance of fards and the consequent rise in revenue income has been much more than the amounts paid to them during the past eighteen years,” said Gagan.

He further argued that rendering them jobless would also disrupt the smooth functioning of registrar and sub-registrar offices as the new system of issuance of documents, including fards, may not remain smooth. The operators threatened to launch an agitation in case the decision being implemented on the pretext of governance reforms was not reversed by the government. “As most of us are the only breadwinners of our families we will be forced to withdraw our wards from schools and take them along when we sit on a dharna,” said Gagan.