MP running over 150 IAS officers short, officials juggling multiple roles

Bhopal:Madhya Pradesh is grappling with a significant shortage of IAS officers, leaving many officials to handle multiple departments and raising concerns over administrative efficiency.Against an authorised cadre strength of 459, the state currently has 391 IAS officers in position.Of these, around 50 are on deputation with the Centre at any given time, effectively reducing the working strength in the state to about 341.Reducing the numbers further, 38 IAS officers are currently deputed as poll observers in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. They would not return before May.It brings down the number of IAS in MP to 303. This means the MP these days is short of over 150 officers from its authorised strength.The fallout of less than required number of officers is the existing set of officers have charge of multiple depts.Giving charge of multiple depts to one officer leads to reduced focus and leaving the possibility of ignorance and irregularity at the ground level, officials added.MP was not the worst hit in shortage of IAS officers. When it comes to total authorised strength of IAS and the number of IAS officers in position, MP was fifth lowest in the country.UP was short of 81 IAS officers, West Bengal short of 75 IAS officers, Maharashtra 76 IAS and Kerala was short by 74 IAS officers, as per dept of personnel and training figures (a copy with TOI) which further added the allocation of candidates through the civil services examination, conducted by the union public service commission is an ongoing and continuous process.Vacancies are regularly assessed and all the advertised vacancies of IAS are filled taking into consideration the reservation norms.