Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran faces staff crunch, one SDO taking care of four cities

Parveen Arora

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Karnal, January 11

The Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), the urban development arm of the Haryana Government, is facing acute shortage of staff, particularly in the engineering wing, in Karnal and Kaithal cities, hampering the working of the department.

Karnal has three sanctioned posts of the SDO –one in the Superintending Engineer (SE) office, two in the XEN office comprising two sub-divisions. Of these sanctioned posts, only one SDO has been deployed who is looking after the work of the three SDOs in Karnal, and taking care of Yamunanagar, Kaithal and Kurukshetra. Moreover, the department in Karnal does not have a permanent SE and Estate Officer (EO). Both officers have been given the additional charge of Karnal.

The worrisome situation can be gauged in the engineering wing in both districts, with Karnal having six sanctioned posts of the junior engineer (JE), out of which four are lying vacant. Similarly, Kaithal has three sanctioned posts of the JE, out of which one is yet to be filled.

Both districts are facing the shortage of clerical staff also. In Karnal, 13 posts of clerk are sanctioned. Of these, 10 are lying vacant, while in Kaithal, one post of clerk out of three is yet to be filled.

As per sources in the department, due to the shortage of the SDOs and JEs, the water and sewerage system in the HSVP sectors is affected adversely and the complaints related to the leakage of water supply, sewerage system and others are not resolved on time.

However, the Karnal Municipal Corporation has been given the charge of roads and storm water of most of the HSVP sectors, while the remaining work like water, sewerage is maintained by the HSVP. Besides, the works of laying of the water supply, storm water, roads and sewerage in new sectors is also done by the HSVP.

The same situation is in Kaithal city. “People come to us with their complaints regarding sewerage and water supply leakage, but due to the shortage of staff, we are unable to resolve these on time. Besides, the monitoring of complaints is very difficult due to the shortage of the SDOs and JEs,” said an employee of the HSVP.

Meanwhile, officials claimed that they had been making efforts to resolve the complaints of the residents on time. “We have sent demand to the higher authorities to fill all vacant posts. We are making efforts to resolve the complaints of residents on time so that they do not face any problem,” said Dharamvir Singh, XEN, HSVP, Karnal.

Officials get additional charge

The department in Karnal does not have a permanent Superintending Engineer and Estate Officer. Both officers have been given the additional charge of Karnal