http://oheraldo.in/node/10005
S Goa ZP faces shortage of staff BY HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, FEB 17 — The Zilla Panchayat, South is hit by an acute shortage of manpower, putting spokes in the utilisation of development grants in the district. And, if the Chief Executive Officer, Kenaudekar is to be believed, there may not be any official to man the technical section if urgent steps are not taken to stem the rote. The staff shortage took the center stage at Friday's meeting of the Zilla Panchayat wherein both the ruling as well as the opposition members expressed serious concern over the situation and agreed to serve an ultimatum on the government or face action. The CEO informed the body that there's no staff to handle the 140 tenders issued recently, saying the existing staff is feeling the work pressure due to the shortage. "There's no technical staff. The AE will retire in a month's time. The contract of the two JE's will expire in March. It will be very difficult to function in such conditions", he said, adding "there are no engineers for site inspection". What's more, the CEO said there's no staffing pattern for the ZP employees nor are the recruitment rules put in place. Many an employee will lose their pension benefits, he added. Chairperson Reginaldo Lourenco said he has drawn government attention atleast on two occasions to the staff shortage, but in vain. Agitated members later suggested that the ZP members should sit outside the office of the Chief Minister or stage a dharna to get their demands fulfilled. It was finally agreed to serve an ultimatum on the government before planning the next course of action. Ironically, the ZP, South has received around Rs 1.80 crore development grant only recently, but shortage of manpower has only delayed the utilisation of the funds. -- "Dev Borem Korum". Gabe Menezes. London, England
