Tenure of re-employed patwaris extended by six months again

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10

Faced with the shortage of patwaris across Punjab, the state government has decided to hire 1,000 patwaris. Till that recruitment is made, the government has extended the tenure of 400 retired patwaris by six months. Sources in the state Revenue Department told The Tribune that the tenure of the re-employed retired patwaris had been extended till December-end. This is the fourth such extension since 2022.

By the time their term ends in December, the government is hopeful of having on the job at least 700 patwaris who are under training at present. These trainee patwaris were selected in 2023. They will complete their 18-month training by early next year.

The information available with The Tribune reveals that of the 3,660 posts of patwari, around 2,000 are vacant. Regular patwaris say though they had been allocated additional patwar circles to ensure that revenue work does not suffer, but they are unable to do that additional work. As a result, the common man is forced to run from pillar to post to get his routine work done in the Revenue Department.

“We have already initiated the process of selecting 1,000 more patwaris. The file has been sent to the finance and personnel departments for approval. Once that is done, we will initiate the recruitment process,” said KAP Sinha, Special Chief Secretary, Revenue and Rehabilitation Department. He said the re-employment of retired patwaris was an interim measure to ensure smooth functioning at tehsil offices.

In 2019, 1,090 candidates were selected as patwaris, but the long training period of three years deterred many of them from continuing in the service. According to the Revenue Department, nearly 50 per cent of them left the job to opt for other government/private jobs. The same was true for the second round of recruitment of patwaris in 2023, when 710 persons were selected. The government had reduced their training period to 18 months.

Move opposed

• The Revenue Patwar Union has been opposing the move to re-employ retired patwaris. The re-employment of patwaris was started during the previous Congress government's tenure. Union president Harbir Singh Dhindsa said: “While new recruits get a salary of ~19,000, the retired patwaris, allowed to work till 67 years of age, get ~35,000 as salary.”
• Retired kanungo Mohan Singh Bhedpura said the government should not make stop-gap arrangements in such an important department. “Despite having a high rate of unemployment, why are we rehiring retired employees? AAP had opposed this practice while being in the Opposition,” he said.