Uttarakhand patwaris boycott work, say won’t do policing

Patwaris (revenue officials) of Uttarakhand on Friday boycotted work saying they would not do policing work in the areas under the jurisdiction of the revenue police.

Their protest find reason in the January 12 order of the Uttarakhand high court that stated that the regular police carry out the policing work in the areas the revenue police. The court had given six-month time for the compliance of the order.

Shambhunath Singh, a patwari of Jwalapur in Haridwar district, said that the patwaris attended the office, but boycotted the work. “The government is making us do the dual work of revenue related activities and also that of policing. We are getting salaries for a single work and we are feeling overburdened with the pressure of the two works,” Singh said.

Madan Kaushik, the government spokesperson, said that the revenue police serves in around 60% area of Uttarakhand and is indispensable in the present circumstances. “We have seen that people in the hill areas have not been very receptive to the regular police. Apart from this, the crime rate is also very low in the hills and there is not much need of the regular police in the areas, as the patwaris have been carrying out these works efficiently.”

Kaushik said that the government would look into the grievances of the patwaris and, if need be, the government would also move the Supreme Court against the order.

Around 60 percent of the landmass of Uttarakhand is under the jurisdiction of the revenue police that is constituted of the patwaris, who look after the revenue related issues as well as carry out the policing related work.

In Pithoragarh, 144 patwaris of the district boycotted the policing related work. They said that they would hand over their policing related documents and basta (bag) to the administration. Similarly, the patwaris in other districts also boycotted policing related work.

There are 1,216 patwaris in Uttarakhand.