Punjab can spare 33 IAS officers for election duty in ut, st

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Chandigarh March 22:

Punjab has agreed to spare 33 IAS officers for election duty instead of 44 sought by the Election Commission of India. It is learnt that Chief Secretary SC Agrawal has moved the file for processing after he got the nod of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

“Chief Minister Badal has approved 33 IAS officers for election duty,” said the official, adding that the list would soon be sent to the Election Commission.

The Election Commission of India had asked for 44 IAS officers from Punjab, but the Chief Minister Badal had turned down the request, saying that his State was already faced with the crunch of IAS officers and could not spare them for 45 days. Chief Secretary Agrawal had also written to the EC to reduce the number of IAS officers, as the SGPC elections were drawing closer, and Punjab was not at all in a position to spare so many IAS officers to the EC for supervising the Assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

During a meeting with the Planning Commission in New Delhi last month, Chief Secretary Agrawal had raised the issue of shortage of IAS officers. In 2010, Punjab had sent his 22 IAS officers for the election duty in Assembly polls in Bihar. Punjab is already faced with a huge staff crunch at senior level, especially in the rank of IAS officers. As of now, the state has around 193 IAS officers and has demanded 28 more new posts of IAS to meet administrative requirements. Out of a total of 193, 29 IAS officers are on deputation at the Centre and the Chandigarh Administration.

 
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