Dharwad
At a recent meeting, senior officers from various government departments highlighted the critical shortage of staff and requested intervention from the State Administrative Reforms Commission. They appealed to Chairman RV Deshpande to take steps to fill existing vacancies.
Officers reported that departments such as health, revenue, and agriculture have only 20 to 40 percent of their positions filled with permanent employees, while the remainder are on contract. This staffing issue is reportedly causing inefficiencies and corruption. For example, it has become challenging to recover misappropriated funds from contract employees.
The Deputy Director of Agriculture mentioned a lack of personnel to assess damage in fields during droughts and floods. The District Health Officer Dr. Shashikala called for more doctors in government hospitals. Revenue officials highlighted the need for laptops for village accountants and noted the heavy workload on Tahsildars, who handle both administrative and protocol duties.
Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary BS Muganurmath suggested that rural properties be assigned survey numbers and maps to prevent encroachment due to inadequate records.
Deshpande acknowledged the vacancies but noted that some posts had insufficient workload. He advised officers to provide information on both the need for new posts and the cancellation of unnecessary ones to facilitate reforms. Commission Secretary NS Prasannakumar, Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu, and other officials attended the meeting.
