Seeking hike, Haryana revenue officials refuse to relent

The ongoing protest by Haryana revenue officials over their demands such as hike in honorarium and hiring of new patwaris and kanungos will continue, union leaders said on Tuesday.

The unions of revenue officials have been holding regular protest since January 3. Union state president Jaiveer Chahal said they want the state government to provide them an increased honorarium applicable from 2016.

“We want the state government to conduct departmental exams to accord promotions to officials. They should also carry out a recruitment drive that has been pending for long,” he said.

Another revenue official said their strike would continue on Thursday and Friday. As a matter of fact, the state has 1,400 patwaris against 2,691 sanctioned posts. But union leaders say there was a need of over 4,000 revenue officials to carry out the department’s works seamlessly.

Kaynat Asif, a member of the union from Panchkula, said none of 32 revenue officials (25 patwaris and 7 kanungos) at Panchkula worked on Tuesday. “All revenue officials remained on protest over their demands,” she said.

She said: “A single patwari is given work of numerous patwaris. It leaves them hassled. Even unnecessary work is allocated to revenue officials. Also, without timely promotions, many patwaris have retired at the very posts,” she said.