By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 10: The Opposition TMC has drawn the attention of the government to the huge backlog of unfilled vacancies of sanctioned posts in the various government departments and slammed the NPP-led MDA for resorting to ad hoc appointments to fill up some of the vacant posts.
Talking to reporters, Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma said the government’s move to resort to a “pick and choose” policy for contractual employees is against social justice.
“Why are you trying to ensure that you can just hire and fire employees?” he questioned.
He said people appointed on ad hoc basis know that even if they are employed their services won’t be made permanent. “There have been instances when people have been dropped like hot potatoes. Many have fallen victim to this policy of the government,” he stated.
He pointed out that if such a huge backlog of vacancies remained unfilled, especially the sanctioned posts against which budgetary projections have been made there will be a huge monetary deficit.
“This will lead to ramifications on the overall fiscal health of the state,” he said.
It may be recalled that during the recent autumn session, Sangma had raised the issue on the floor of the House and had slammed the “lackadaisical” state government for delaying the process of recruitment in sanctioned posts of various departments.
“I want to question the government’s intent in filling up vacancies for sanctioned posts,” he had said in the Assembly.
He had cited the example of an advertisement seeking to fill a vacancy in a government school in Ampati with a fixed pay of Rs 30,000 and had pointed out that as per the Supreme Court’s judgments on sanctioned posts, this sum amounts to deprivation.
He had also stated that the government has been insensitive to filling vacancies in health, education, PWD, police and other departments to help them function optimally.