Chandigarh, December 24 : Taking cognizance of rampant adhocism & nepotism in animal husbandry department, Punjab State Veterinary Officers Association (PSVOA) has urged the Punjab Government to effect placements and promotions immediately which have been stalled since long due to red tapism, otherwise they will be constrained to resort to other modes of protest.
In an emergency meeting of the association, held here today, under the Chairmanship of its president Dr. Ashok Kumar Sharma, lot of hue & cry was raised over the fact that more than 50% of posts of Deputy Director at district level and Senior Veterinary Officer at Sub-Division level continued to be vacant since long, although placements/promotions to these posts didn’t entail any additional financial burden on the state exchequer. Dr. Sharma said that casual approach of temporary officers not only hinders the proper working but also leads to poor delivery mechanism.
Dr. Sharma also called upon the Government to instruct the 5th Punjab Pay Commission to submit its report soon, so that in consonance with rising costs & inflation, Punjab employees also get benefits which the employees of central government & many neighbouring states were already drawing.
The general Secretary of PSVOA Dr. Sukhdev Singh emphasized that in order to curb adhocism and to run the department more efficiently like a well oiled machinery, the department should do away with the concept of Veterinary Service Providers which had failed miserably and instead employ regular Veterinary Officers. He said that national agriculture policy aims to attain growth rate in excess of 4% per annum in agriculture. “Since present growth rate in crop production is around 2%, higher growth rates of 6-8% in animal husbandry would help in achieving targeted growth rate of 4% for agriculture sector as a whole.” Hence, he averred that nearly 50% vacancies of Veterinary Officers lying vacant should be filled through Punjab Public Service Commission to achieve the desired objectives.
Besides District Presidents, members of the state executive of PSVOA were also present in this meeting.