Lack of officers hits Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs schemes

GUWAHATI: The lack of adequate manpower, especially at the officer level, has plagued the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Department in the state. The situation has affected the pace of the scheme’s implementation.

According to sources in the department, 60 of the 91 posts of officers (66 percent) are vacant. The department has only 31 officers (34 percent) working now.

Two of the four posts of joint director, 12 of the 21 posts of deputy director, all 25 posts of assistant director, and 21 of the 41 posts of superintendent are vacant in the department.

The situation in the department has come to such a pass that inspectors have to look after the work of other officers in Jorhat, Titabor, Dhansiri, Bokakhat, Sadiya, Jonai, Sonitpur, Hojai, Goalpara, Dhubri, Bajali, Barpeta, Nalbari, Margherita, etc., districts and subdivisions.

According to sources in the department, the lack of regular promotion has led to the creation of more vacancies in the department. However, the department has adequate manpower in the fourth and third grades, as the government filled the vacancies during the recent recruitment drive.

According to sources, the department badly feels the lack of manpower at a time when it is working hard to issue around 40 lakh ration cards to new beneficiaries. The lack of an adequate number of officers has affected regular supervision, surveillance, etc., in the department.

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