A day after the Punjab government suspended 15 revenue officials for not returning to work despite warnings, the protesting officers called off their strike on Wednesday.
The decision was made after a meeting of the Tehsildars, Kanungo, and DC office employees' unions in Moga.
After long discussions, the unions decided to end the protest, considering the ongoing farmers' agitation across the state.
Lachman Singh, acting president of the Punjab Revenue Officers Association, confirmed that all officials would resume normal work from Thursday. “We were working but had stopped property registrations. That will restart tomorrow,” he said.
Government's action against protesters
On Tuesday, the government suspended five tehsildars and nine naib tehsildars, as per an order by Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Anurag Verma.
The suspended officials included six from Moga, six from Muktsar, and two from Ferozepur. Later, the acting president of the Punjab Revenue Officers Association was also suspended.
The state government had warned the officials to return to work or face action. This came after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann criticised their strike, calling it support for “corrupt colleagues.”
Mann condemned the revenue officers for halting property registrations and warned that the government would not tolerate such actions.
Reason for the protest
The Punjab Revenue Officers Association had stopped property registrations until March 7 in protest against Vigilance Bureau action against revenue officials in Ludhiana over a fraudulent land deal.
They also opposed the vigilance actions in revenue offices, claiming it was creating “fear” among officials.
On Monday, the officials had taken mass casual leave, disrupting registration work and causing inconvenience to the public. They had announced that while property registrations would be halted, they would continue tasks like girdawari (land assessment) and mutation (ownership record updates).
CM Mann's warning
CM Bhagwant Mann strongly criticised the officers for stopping property registrations, stating that they were protesting because some officials had been caught in a corruption case.
“We have zero tolerance for corruption,” he said, adding that the government would not be blackmailed by such actions.
Also Read: Farmers rally in Punjab, burn CM Mann’s effigies statewide
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