Four years on, Kasauli SDM office awaits adequate staff

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 16

Four years after it was opened, the office of the Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM), Kasauli, is operating from a makeshift building and doing without the requisite staff.

Though the office caters to a populace of 24 patwar circles, it has failed to get adequate staff since its inception. Apart from the SDM, a clerk and a junior office assistance are available here, while another employee is retiring at month-end.

“There are 14 sanctioned posts here, comprising a superintendent, senior assistant, steno typist, clerk, junior office assistant, office Kanungo, daftri, peon, chowkidar, driver and sweeper. Only three posts are filled and one employee will retire soon,” Kasauli SDM Narayan Chauhan said.

Though the state government has notified opening of another SDM office at Baddi, it was appalling to note that the existing offices lacked the adequate staff strength due to which important works like imparting relief to last year’s disaster-hit population were suffering. This speaks volumes about the state of affairs and the significance accorded to the administration by the state government.

Kasauli was among a few constituencies that did not have an SDM office till 2019. It was in December 2019 that the then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had announced opening of this office. Being a cantonment town, Kasauli faced paucity of space and the SDM office was made functional from the tehsil office on a temporary basis in September 2020. Later, it was shifted to the PWD guesthouse. It is yet to get a permanent office, besides there is no provision for the SDM’s residence.

Being a defence area, Kasauli also grapples with poor Internet connectivity. Residents and the staff of the SDM office face hardships in completing key works online like vehicle registration. Those visiting the office for vehicle registration face problems, as they do not get the OTP messages on their mobile phones due to the poor connectivity. The staff members also face hardships in carrying out official works.

Such is the situation due to the space crunch in Kasauli that the office of sub-treasury is housed on the fourth floor of the court complex. Pensioners, who visit the sub-treasury once a year to submit their life certificates, find it difficult to reach to the fourth floor. Requests have been made to the district administration to relocate the office to the ground floor, but little interest has been shown by the administration in this regard.

The need to relocate the office outside Kasauli was being urgently felt as the present arrangement only inconvenienced the public. Even the approach road to the office was very steep and motorists found it difficult to negotiate the steep gradient.