PATNA, April 8 -- Bihar's revenue and land reforms department on Tuesday pulled out all stops to shake up its deputy collectors land revenue (DCLRs), holding a day-long state-level review and orientation workshop aimed at sharpening their focus on clearing land disputes, speeding up plot partitions and mutations, and cracking down on encroachments on government land. Ninety-two of the state's 101 DCLRs turned up at the revenue headquarters in the old secretariat. The session, chaired by principal secretary CK Anil and attended by additional secretary Mahendra Pal and other senior officers, began with a screening test to gauge the officials' grasp of revenue laws. The timing of the workshop is significant. For nearly a month now, circle officers, revenue officers and other field staff have been on an indefinite strike, virtually paralysing day-to-day work at the ground level. Targets set under the ambitious Rajaswa Maha Abhiyan for correcting land records, mutations and plot measurements have been badly missed. An anti-encroachment drive launched across districts has also failed to gain momentum because of the staff shortage. Earlier reviews had already flagged massive encroachments on government land in prime locations across major cities. Deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, who also holds the revenue portfolio, delivered the sharpest message of the day. "The public mandate is clear - make Bihar free of land disputes," he told the DCLRs. "No laxity in revenue work will be tolerated. The difficulties faced by common people because of the disruption at the circle level will not go unaccounted for. Those responsible will have to pay the price." Sinha asked the officers to stop "window dressing" and get down to real work. "Complete people's urgent cases honestly and within the time limit. That will build your image and people's trust in you," he said, adding that the first duty of every officer must be timely disposal of rightful public work. The department has vested DCLRs with substantial powers under the Bihar Land Disputes Redressal Act to decide cases of plot disposition and partition directly. Yet, officials have rarely exercised these powers themselves, routinely pushing files down to subordinate circle officers and revenue officers. Because the revenue department is not their parent cadre, these DCLRs have seldom faced any departmental action - a gap the workshop clearly sought to address. Principal secretary Anil struck an equally firm note. "There will be no tampering with government land," he said. "This land is the backbone of the state's land bank, which will drive industrial investment and infrastructure development. Your pen is the strongest weapon against land mafias." Anil noted that chief minister Nitish Kumar's Samriddhi Yatra and the deputy chief minister's Jan Kalyan Samvad had created positive momentum for the department, but added that the time lost since March 9 because of the circle-level strike was "priceless" and had caused enormous hardship to ordinary citizens. He asked officers to work with complete honesty and accountability. Additional secretaries Mahendra Pal and Ajiv Vatsraj and deputy director Mona Jha then carried out a detailed review of pending mutation appeals, BLDR cases and measurement appeals. They examined monthly disposal figures from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, assessed performance since the present postings, and discussed revenue collection, verification of land identified for the state land bank, field inspections at circle and halka levels, and other administrative matters. Senior officers present included officer on special duty Mani Bhushan Kishor, Sudha Rani, Soni Kumari, assistant director-cum-district public relations officer Juhi Kumari and IT manager Anand Shankar, among others. The clear message from the top: the department expects its DCLRs to lead from the front, use the powers they already have, and deliver results - or face consequences....