The State government’s first-of-its-kind initiative of setting up Ward Secretariats to take government services to the doorsteps of the citizens is facing teething problems owing to shortage of staff, including secretaries and volunteers.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the Village and Ward Secretariat system on October 2 after filling up most of the posts of secretaries and volunteers.
However, three months down the line, many posts in the city’s secretariats are still lying vacant owing to various reasons.
As per the population of the city, 286 ward secretariats have been sanctioned by the State government and about 90% of them are already functional. In all the 286 Ward Secretariats that were strategically located in the city, 2,860 secretary posts have been created and so far only 1,469 of secretaries were recruited, according to VMC officials.
While recruitment of 700 more secretaries is under process, the remaining 691 posts are yet to be filled, an official said.
Volunteers
On the other hand, posts of ward volunteers too are lying vacant though the process began much before that of secretaries. Out of total 5,320 ward volunteer posts created, 4, 696 have been filled and remaining 624 are lying vacant, officials say.
Government has earlier reduced the level of educational qualification from degree to Intermediate owing to poor response to the volunteer recruitment drive in urban areas.
