Telangana: Vacancies cause hindrance in governance

Ranga Reddy: The various departments in Telangana government are now struggling as there are many vacant posts. While the government cadre strength is 4.57 lakh, a total of only 3.09 lakh posts are filled and there are around 1.48 lakh vacancies present in 32 departments. Lack of employees in Finance, Home, Medical and Health, Education Departments are creating problems in carrying out smooth governance.

The Telangana government divided increased the number of districts to 31 in the State but did not recruit new staff as per the requirement. The old staff was adjusted for the same. Lack of manpower in the police department is also creating hindrances in the society. Due to the lack of staff in the medical institutions, patients are facing problems. With lack of expert teachers and lecturers in Education department, the government is unable to provide good education in government educational institutions. A total of 37,218 posts are vacant in all divisions of civil, fire, reserve and jail of the police department. The department has sanctioned 95,643 posts, but, only 58,425 employees are working. According to sources, there are about 123 police personnel for every group of 1 lakh people across the State.

State education department has most number of vacancies for approximately 37,559 posts compared other departments. A total of 24,702 posts of teaching and non-teaching in schools and 12,857 teaching and non-teaching posts are vacant in higher educational institutes. The recruitment for teaching staff was done only once after the Telangana State was formed. The State has 12 universities that lack teaching staff. In the State Health Department there are approximately 23,512 vacancies. The full strength of employees is 48,889 as against the present working strength - 25,557. Warangal MGM hospital has 826 vacancies; Adilabad Rims Hospital has 93 vacancies; Nizamabad Hospital has 104 regular doctors out of the total 311 regular doctor posts out of which 83 were hired on contract basis.

There are 1,730 vacancies in Agriculture Department, 2,087 posts in Animal Husbandry Department, 1,027 posts in BC Welfare Department, 3,367 posts in Forest Department, 1,375 posts in Finance Department, 14,047 posts in Revenue and Panchayat Raj Department and 2,795 posts in Irrigation Department have been vacant for past few years.

Unemployed persons have alleged that the government is recruiting employees through outsourcing on contract basis. Even though there are more than one lakh yet-to-be-filled posts in several government departments, the government is not bothered about filling those vacant posts and has also postponed the job notifications. At present, 2.10 lakh temporary employees are working in various government departments.

According to the constitutional guidelines, the required staff should be recruited as soon as possible.