| RTIC battles manpower shortage | | Of 15 posts of AEEs, AEs 10 vacant | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 5: The Ravi Tawi Irrigation Complex (RTIC) is grappling with a severe manpower crunch. Out of 15 sanctioned posts of Assistant Executive Engineers (AEEs) and Assistant Engineers, 10 are vacant in different divisions.
The RTIC has five divisions including two mechanical and three civil. But its functioning is affected due to shortage of engineers, even as some officials are holding two to three additional charges to run the show.
"Against the sanctioned strength of six AEEs in Hiranagar division, two are vacant. One post was not filled up after the retirement of AEE in sub division-II in September 2017. Another fell vacant after the promotion of AEE to the post of Executive Engineer," said sources, wishing anonymity. The negligence of the department can be gauged from the fact that two posts of AEs in sub divisions III and IV of Hiraangar division were lying vacant for last seven years. "Now the locals of areas are up in arms over the vacancy in the department and have written letters to Chief Minister and Governor in this regard," said sources.
In the letter to Chief Minister, the locals alleged that more than dozen AEEs were attached at Chief Engineer Office Jammu and were drawing their salaries from the RTIC division Hiranagar, that too without doing any work. "We repeatedly approached Chief Engineer Jammu and brought the matter into his notice. Till date no AEE or and AE has been deputed against vacant post in sub divisions II and III of RTIC division Hiranagar," the locals said. When contacted, the office of Chief Engineer denied the charges of attachment and said that from time to time they have informed the administrative department about the vacancies. "It is responsibility of the department to allot sufficient manpower to run the business," said a technical officer in the CE's office. |
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