Kasaragod: UDF and BJP board members of the UDF-controlled Badiadka grama panchayat on Monday locked the office of the Assistant Engineer and protested against the government for the perennial staff crisis in the local body.
The panchayat has not had an assistant engineer for the past seven months, around 300 developmental projects are pending for the past two years, said panchayat president Shantha B.
She said the Badiadka panchayat office has 13 posts. Apart from the assistant engineer, the posts of accountant, responsible for clearing bills, and village extension officer, responsible for the Life Mission housing scheme, are also vacant, she said.
"One month ago, the government gave the responsibility of Badiadka panchayat to the assistant engineer of neighbouring Madhur grama panchayat. Last week, she gave me a letter saying she cannot do the double duty," said the president.
On October 19, all the 19 panchayat board members held a protest in front of the office of the Joint Director of Panchayats in Kasaragod demanding the filling of the vacancies. "We were told that appointments are made from Thiruvananthapuram. We did not know what to do. So we locked the office Monday morning," said Shantha, a member of the Indian Union Muslim League.
The protest was called off three hours later around 12.15 pm after the Collector and the Joint Director of Panchayat intervened and made the assistant engineer of Madhur take back her letter.
"The collector and the JD assured us that the assistant engineer of Madhur would work for us for two days, and would be extended to three days later," said Congress member and panchayat Vice-President Abbas M. "But that's not our demand. We want a full-time assistant engineer," he said.
In the past two years, the panchayat, controlled by the UDF, received 317 developmental projects, including drinking water, schools, anganwadi, drainage, and road works. Of that, the panchayat has got technical sanctions for only 15 projects. "The remaining 301 projects are at the risk of lapsing and would seriously affect the living standards of the residents," said Abbas.
He said the building of the panchayat-run Government Lower Primary School at Udayagiri is dilapidated and students were moved to another building. "By now, we should have got the technical sanction and tenders invited. But the project is stuck in the file," said Abbas.
Panchayat members have to face the ire of the people for the pending numbering of buildings and houses.
Assistant engineers are the project implementing officers of local bodies. Panchayat president Shantha said she would not blame the Madhur panchayat's assistant engineer for complaining of overburden. "We have 19 wards with a population of around 35,000. Madhur has 20 wards with a population of around 42,000. Sharing one officer means both the panchayat would be adversely affected," she said.
She said on October 18, all the panchayat members cutting across party lines protested in front of the office of the Joint Director. On Monday's protest, the CPM's three members stayed away.
In the middle of October, a similar protest played out in Mangalpady grama panchayat, controlled by the UDF. Of the 13 posts in the panchayat, seven of them were vacant. Posts of all three upper division clerks, junior superintendent, one lower division clerk, accountant, and driver, were vacant for months, said panchayat Vice-President Yousuf Heroor.
On October 12, the BJP members of the panchayat board locked up the employees to draw attention to the staff crisis.
The next week, the UDF members locked the panchayat office till they were assured by the department to fill the vacancies. Mangalpady is the fourth most populous panchayat with nearly 50,000 population. Its commercial hub Uppala is a money spinner and possibly has the highest number of apartment complexes in the 38 panchayats of Kasaragod. "We are given only 13 posts. Neighbouring Belloor and Meenja panchayats have populations of around 10,000 and 20,000 people. They too have 13 members. Thirteen for us is inadequate and they are vacant. Nearly 3,500 files are pending in Mangalpady for years," said Yousuf.
After the protest, the government immediately appointed three UD clerks and joined duty. It also posted a junior superintendent and a lower division clerk on October 13 and 17. "They are yet to take charge," said the panchayat vice president. "What we need is a special team of officials to clear the backlog files. Posting one or two staff who never turn up won't solve our problem," said Yousuf.
