Punjab revenue officers threaten to stop field duties
HAVE SERVED A ONE-WEEK ADVANCE NOTICE TO PUNJAB GOVERNMENT TO MEET THEIR DEMANDS; SAY THEY HAVE TO BEAR THE EXPENSES OF VEHICLES, FUELS, DEFENDING COURT CASES
FARIDKOT: Punjab revenue officers on Friday announced that they will not perform any field duties from April 22 unless they are provided security, vehicles and funds for fuel and defending litigation in courts.
Serving a one-week advance notice to the state government to meet their demands, the Punjab Revenue Officers Association said all revenue officers, tehsildars and naib tehsildars will boycott duties if the government failed to fulfil their demands.
“The expenses of vehicles, fuels, defending court cases are borne by all revenue officers from their own pockets. Moreover, they have to confront the anger of angry crowds in the fields without any fault, and no one is there to support and rescue them,” Gurdev Singh Dham, president of the association, said.
They said that no officer will defend litigation in courts unless they get sufficient sanctioned funds.
The officers said that no revenue officer will visit mandis to check procurement and that will be monitored from office if officials are given this task.
They also threatened not to perform field duties, including in case of chief minister’s or any VIP visit, girdawari inspections, mutations, court cases or for any other official work.
Dham said that they have raised many critical issues like funds for court cases, allotment of government vehicles and security for revenue officers. “But the revenue department as usual remained irresponsive, and nothing concrete has taken place on the ground,” Dham said.
Associations general secretary Sukhcharan Singh Channi said, “It is made clear that no revenue officer will be responsible for any lapse, financial or assets loss of the government, and for any adverse effect or repercussions.”
“It will be the responsibility of the revenue department. We will review our resolution on April 22 in view of developments during this interregnum, if any, and will decide our further course of action accordingly,” he added.
Channi said that they have waited for a long time and raised their concerns at all relevant and responsible forums, including revenue minister on March 30 and with chief minister Bhagwant Mann on April 5, but to no avail.
“With the change of government in Punjab, the revenue department is on the radar of public as well as government. Field officers are facing a humiliating position because of lack of these necessary provisions,” he said.
“We neither have any funds to visit or appear in courts, nor there is any legal set up to get drafts of replies of suits and writs at tehsil or district levels, except one DA (admin), who further have no subordinate or staff to assist us for required service. Therefore, revenue officers are compelled to bear all expenses of government litigation from their own pockets,” he said.