KARACHI: The Sindh government has voiced concern over shortage of officers. A meeeting of Sindh cabinet held here Tuesday at CM House with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in chair noted that the provincial government was facing 50 percent shortage of Grade BS-21 officers of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), over 75 percent shortage of BS-20 officers and 80 percent of grade BS-19 and thus it has decided to declare 58 posts of Grade BS-21 and BS-20 as floating posts.

The cabinet was told that due to acute shortage of the PAS officers, and cancellation of additional and look-after charges by the courts of law a large number of important posts were lying vacant, adversely affecting the functioning of the provincial government departments. It noted that in such a situation the ultimate sufferer were general public.

The meeting was told that there were 25 posts of Grade BS-21 in Sindh, of them 16 posts belonged to the PAS as their share. Currently, only five officers of Bs-21 were working and remaining 11 posts were vacant.

Similarly, out of 142 sanctioned posts of grade BS-20, the PAS has a share of 67 posts but only 19 officers are working, and 48 posts are vacant. Out of 277 posts of Grade BS-19 the PAS has a share of 59 posts against which only 25 officers are working, and 34 posts were vacant.

However, the chief minister said that in order to ensure a smooth functioning of government institutions filling up of at least important positions was a must for effective and efficient service delivery.

It was pointed out that the details of posts in the share of PAS, working strength and shortfall, were roughly worked out for the last six years. The average figures for the last three years give a grim picture regarding the availability of PAS officers in BS-19 and above. It was told that the Sindh government faces a deficiency of over 50 percent in BS-21, over 75 percent in BS-20 and 80 percent in BS-19.

The cabinet, keeping in view the acute shortage of officers, decided to declare 11 posts of BS-21, including that of Chairman Planning & Development Board, Chairman CM Inspection & Inquiries Team, Chairman Anti-Corruption Establishment and Commissioner Karachi Division as floating posts in BS-20/BS-21. These posts could be filled with BS-20 officers of PAS, Ex-PCS and PSS on the basis of seniority.

Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro told the cabinet that the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has allowed transfer of water from Indus System to Jhelum-Chenab System through Chashma-Jhelum (C-J) and Taunsa-Panjnad (T-P) Link Canals, as a result not only the standing crops were drying up but there is fear of the shortage of drinking water also.

The cabinet urged the IRSA to stop flowing water into Jhelum-Chenab system and release river water to Sindh.

Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh raised the issue of prolonged load shedding in the rural areas of the province. He said that the old transformers installed in the rural areas usually go out of order, and their repair takes four to five weeks, as a result the poor people suffer a lot. The cabinet urged the power distribution companies to overhaul their systems and install new transformers, particularly in the rural area.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021