NAKODAR/SHAHKOT/NURMAHAL
On Wednesday, revenue officers of Nakodar, Shahkot subdivisions, and Nurmahal sub-tehsil went on a lightning strike to protest a secret list of 48 revenue officers sent to the government by the vigilance bureau terming these officers as tainted.
The Chief Director, of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, had prepared a list of 48 tehsildars and naib-tehsildars along with a list of agents through whom they were receiving bribes and was sent to Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua.
As per the cover note sent to the Chief Secretary, the list was prepared after gathering information from the field staff. As per the note, these officials have deployed individuals and deed writers to receive the bribe money.
Revealing the modus operandi of the corrupt officials, while preparing sale deeds, the writers write code words about whether the bribe money has been received from the applicant and whether the ‘collected money’ is handed over to the tehsildar the same day.
The note also mentions that these officials register properties to evade stamp duty, leading to government loss. The note says that it is common that the registries of the unapproved colonies are done without obtaining the No-Objection Certificates (NOC). Even the genuine properties for which the NOC is not required, people are being arm-twisted to pay the bribe.
The list has the names of one tehsildar and two naib tehsildars from Patiala district, one tehsildar each from Barnala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Moga, Ferozepur and Fazilka each.
Apart from that one tehsildar and three naib tehsildars are in Mohali, one tehsildar and three naib tehsildars in Ropar, one naib tehsildar in Fatehgarh Sahib. One teshildar from Muktsar and five tehsildars and one naib tehsildar are from Ludhiana.
Two tehsildars and two naib tehsildars belong to Jalandhar, three tehsildars and two naib tehsildars to Hoshiarpur, three tehsildars to Kapurthala, one tehsildar and one naib tehsildar to SBS Nagar district, two tehsildars to Gurdaspur, three tehsildars and two naib tehsildars to Bathinda.
Gurdev Singh Dham, president of the Revenue Officers’ Association, said it meant out of 275 revenue officers, around 80 percent were honest.