GUJRAT, Jan 21: The district revenue department has not been able to achieve the target of completion of the settlement process (revision of the existing record of rights to the estates and demarcation) in five long years despite doling out heavy amount earmarked out of the public funds.

It is learnt that even the target of one year could not be achieved in the five years, and now the district administration has recommended to the Punjab Board of Revenue to suspend the settlement work for an indefinite period so that the department could first complete the pilot project of computerisation of Gujrat’s revenue record.

As most of the disputes in the district arise over land possessions because the settlement (revenue record revision) had been carried out 80 years ago and it was a long-standing demand of the people of rural areas to initiate the process once again.

The project of the settlement in Gujrat was proposed in 1999 to then Punjab chief minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, by MPA Malik Hanif Awan (now PML-N’s district president). However, the project could not be initiated despite allocations in the Punjab budget for 1999-2000.

When Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi became the Punjab chief minister in 2002, he had directed the revenue department to make an estimate for the settlement in his native district and a huge amount was allocated in the budget for 2003 for the settlement. In September 2003, an independent settlement officer besides the extra settlement officers for all the three tehsils -- Gujrat, Kharian and Sara-i-Alamgeer -- and other revenue staff, including naib tehsildars, patwaris and clerks, had been assigned the job.

The then EDO revenue had shifted all the field staff from the revenue side to the settlement. Around 130 new patwaris, clerks and other staff were specially recruited on a five-year contract and the district administration had provided three new vehicles for the operations of the settlement staff.

The settlement process was practically initiated by the end of 2003 and a target was set by the settlement wing to complete the job of at least 158 villages (out of 1,050 villages) in the district by the end of 2004. But the sluggish pace of work and inefficiency of the revenue department under which the settlement wing has been working can be gauged from the fact that settlement of only 132 villages could be completed till Dec 31, 2008.

According to figures made available to Dawn, a sum of Rs274.56 million has so far been spent by the settlement wing at the district level, which includes the salaries of the staff. This is in addition to the amount spent by the extra settlement officers (ESOs) at the tehsil level.

The target of Gujrat tehsil for 2004-2005 was the settlement of at least 73 villages, but it could complete the operation at 53 villages in the five years. Settlement of 63 villages of Kharian was supposed to be completed in one year, but the officials could complete 62 villages in five years. As for Sarai-i-Alamgir, seventeen of the 22 villages have so far been cleared of the settlement.

Sources in the revenue department told Dawn that the field staff had also not adopted the due course of action while doing the settlement as holding of open assemblies in the revenue estates concerned and reading of the current register, Haqdaran Zamin (owners of the land), to update the names and land owners and to devolve the inheritance upon the heirs if already not made, was a must but it could also not be done in most of the villages.

Now District Officer (Revenue) Khawar Kamal, who also has the charge of the settlement officer, on Dec 18 last wrote a letter (176/HC) to the executive district officer (revenue) with a demand to forward a recommendation to the Punjab Board of Revenue to suspend the operations of the settlement.

He said as a pilot project of the revenue record computerisation had been going on in the district for the last four years, it was very difficult for the field staff to undertake both projects at a time.

Sources said EDO (Revenue) Akbar Khan had sought the suspension of the settlement work from the board of revenue till the completion of the computerisation project.

The DO, who is also settlement officer, told Dawn that he had recommended the suspension of the settlement work due to its poor pace and extra burden on the staff. “Once the computerisation is completed, the settlement operation will be easy to complete in less time.”

The board of revenue, sources added, had not yet accepted the EDO’s proposal of the suspension of the settlement work.