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99% top posts lying vacant in Punjab animal husbandry dept
Only the post of director has been filled, while five and 25 posts of joint directors and deputy directors, respectively, are lying vacant
Around 99% top posts of the Punjab animal husbandry department are lying vacant since past few years.
Only the post of director has been filled, while five and 25 posts of joint directors and deputy directors, respectively, are lying vacant. To add to the woes, the department has not even found any existing employee eligible for the rank of deputy director or joint director.
According to the department records, there are five posts of joint directors and 25 deputy director, none of which are filled. In the absence of join directors and deputy directors, charges of these posts have been additionally assigned to lower rank officials.
An official, pleading anonymity, said, “Presently, the department is functioning by giving addition charges to senior veterinary officers which has an adverse effect on the functioning of the department and has overburdened these officers.”
“Since 2014, none of the department’s senior veterinary officers has been promoted to the rank of deputy director. The ones who were promoted to the rank of deputy director, joint director and director before 2014, are now retired.”
Of 93 sanctioned posts of senior veterinary officers, 18 are lying vacant, while of 1,423 posts of veterinary officers, 470 are unoccupied. Similarly, of 2,006 posts of veterinary inspectors, 664 are lying vacant.
Another official of the department, said, “Due to scarcity of human resource, one veterinary official has to take care of more than two hospitals. Besides, the workload and new projects have increased in the past 15 years, but the state government has not sanctioned new vacancies of veterinary officers.
Inderjeet Singh, director of the animal husbandry department, has confirmed the development. “We are trying to fill all vacant posts. Soon, a meeting of the departmental promotion committee will be called and deserving senior veterinary officials will be promoted to the rank of deputy director,” he said.
