Chandigarh, July 3: The Punjab Government has eliminated processing fees and facilitation charges for several essential public documents to assist residents during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The decision, approved by the Council of Ministers under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, runs for a three-month period from July 1 until September 30, 2026. By removing these financial barriers, the administration aims to ensure that every eligible citizen can access required paperwork without economic strain.
The temporary relief measures apply uniformly across multiple service delivery channels, including physical Seva Kendras, online portals, and doorstep delivery systems. Local administrative bodies, including the Department of Good Governance and Information Technology, have received formal authorization to issue standard operational guidelines to execute the changes immediately. The state has committed to absorbing the full operational costs of these transactions to keep the public registry open and affordable.
Cabinet Minister Harpal Singh Cheema stated that the administrative policy reacts directly to the high volume of documentation currently needed for electoral compliance. “The Bhagwant Mann Government has decided to waive the government fees and facilitation charges for these services from July 1 to September 30, 2026. The decision has been taken to ensure that no citizen faces any financial burden while obtaining the documents required during the SIR process,” the Minister affirmed.
The scope of the financial waiver covers a wide array of vital public certificates that families frequently use for identification and official verification. Residents can secure caste certificates, residence documents, official birth records, and duplicate secondary school certificates completely free of charge. Government departments have been directed to streamline their processing pipelines so that the surge in public requests during the voter roll update does not cause administrative backlogs.
