Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Oct. 12: Notwithstanding the saturation of jobs in government sector, the preference for government jobs in the state has only grown over the years. But with an estimated 1,25,299 people already employed by the government of Nagaland, some have began to question the need to create new posts.
An administrative officer told Eastern Mirror on Saturday that because of excessive employees, a majority of government fund is spent on providing salary and pension, which leads to fewer developmental works in the state.
“Compared to Manipur, Nagaland has twice the number of government employees. Even though Manipur has a larger population, the burden is less; hence, we can see more developmental works there as well as in other Northeast states,” said the officer.
According to a report submitted by Deputy Chief Minister Yanthungo Patton in the Assembly, there are 15 posts of SDO and EAC lying vacant in the state. It was stated that a post of sub divisional officer (SDO) and 14 extra assistant commissioners (EAC) were yet to be ‘obtained’.
The vacant posts are SDO, Chessore in Tuensang; EAC in Ngonchung, Mangko and Sotokur (Tuensang); Khuza, Zeketza, Phor (Phek); Chukitong, Wozhuro, Englan (Wokha); Asuto, Satoi, Saptiqa, Hushepu (Zunheboto); and Ongpangkong (Mokokchung). The officer informed that there are around 300 Nagaland Civil Service (NCS) cadres in the state.
“Because of public pressure and political involvement, too many EAC outposts are created to satisfy these demands,” said the officer adding that these outposts do not even have administrative residences, office infrastructure, and basic amenities like water supply.
Upgrading administrative circles should be in consonance with other departments, he said. Citing an example, the officer said that if an EAC headquarters is upgraded to that of an SDO or ADC, then other departments such as Health and Family Welfare should follow suit by upgrading the primary health centre to community health centre. Another administrative officer said that the reason officers were not yet posted at the aforementioned circles was shortage of eligible officers.
‘Recruitments are always done batch-wise while the upgrade and creation of administrative posts are subject to needs,’ the officer said. He added that upgrade and creation of administrative posts are mostly done without the concurrent creation of manpower.
Currently, the 15 administrative circles were said to be run by officers with additional charges.
