Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has approved to give the designation of Village Officers to "Patwaris" by promoting them to grade-14.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held at the chief minister office here on Sunday with Sardar Usman Buzdar in the chair. The meeting reviewed various matters pertaining to the performance of Revenue Department and Punjab Land Record Authority besides others.

"Patwari will be given the designation of Village Officer and will be allocated grade-14. Induction will be done through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and a six-month compulsory training will be imparted after the recruitments. Laptops will also be given to the Village Officers," stated the chief minister.

During the meeting, it also came under review to give Patwaris grade-11 and Gardawar grade-14 during their period of service. It was also decided to formulate service structure for the promotion of Punjab Land Record Authority's staff.

To make one tehsil of Lahore as Model Tehsil with regard to revenue collection, the CM directed the city Commissioner to undertake immediate steps in this regard. He also directed to set up 115 "Arazi Centres" in far-flung areas of the province by the month of December.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said the PTI government is undertaking "revolutionary measures" in order to provide ease in revenue matters. He added that bank counters will also be established for payments at the Arazi Centres. "With the setting up of bank counters, the citizens will be will saved from hassle as they would not have to visit the Arazi Centres anymore, he continued.

"The citizens should not face any difficulty with regard to obtaining land documents. Those officials who found grabbing bribes from the citizens will find their places behind the bars. I will not tolerate any complaint relating to grabbing money from the citizens," Buzdar warned.

A proposal to change the designations of Assistant Director Land Record into Tehsildar and Land Record Officer into Naib-Tehsildar was also reviewed during the meeting. For the purpose, Senior Member Board of Revenue briefed the CM in detail. Prominent among the participants of the meeting were Provincial Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal, Malik Muhammad Anwar, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary to CM, Secretaries of concerned departments and senior officials also participated in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the chief minister said in a statement that the so-called march staged under the name of "Azadi" is in fact a "slavery march". He said that discarded elements want to convert the nation into slaves of old Pakistan once again.

Buzdar claimed that the 220 million people of Pakistan have out rightly rejected old Pakistan as new one is making progress and the era of slavery will not return. "No one can halt the journey of change under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan," he said, adding the Pakistanis have given five-year mandate to the PTI while holding peaceful protest is the right of everyone.

"Anti-people activities will not be tolerated at any cost regarding creating unrest, anarchy and sabotaging law and order in the country. Those rejected elements by the people are trying to harm the Kashmir cause under the guise of so-called March," concluded the CM.