Top-level posts are vacant in Begusarai

BEGUSARAI: "God''s in His heaven and all''s right with the world" is the somewhat sarcastic remark of a social activist and senior Samata Party leader Chitranjan Singh with regard to the key posts in the district lying vacant for a long time.
The district is currently without a district development commissioner (DDC) and the additional collector (AC).District board chief Ratan Singh claims that all development works in the district are going on without any hindrance. He, however, felt that the government should have posted a DDC. The last DDC was transferred from here about eight months back while the AC''s post has been lying vacant for the past around two months.
With DM K P Ramaiyah proceeding on leave for about a fortnight from May 27, handing over charge to B K Pathak, the managing director, DRDA, the district has virtually been reduced to the stage of a subdivision, comments the district chief of the People''s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Ramashraya Singh. If even without senior officials the district is running well, it indicates how much officials have been rendered useless, Singh adds.
The absence of senior officials has adversely affected the attendance of lower level staff in the offices. Most of the offices in the collectorate wear a deserted look. People can be seen moving here and there in vain to get their work done. "The clerk dealing with my file related to a land dispute in the office of the AC, is seldom available in the office," commented Manoj Ram, belonging to Bakhri here.
"The absence of DDC for the past several months has affected the monitoring of various ongoing development works in the district", comments a social activist Fulena Singh. According to him, the contractors are using substandard materials as there is none to check them. Even in the ongoing drainage works at an estimated cost of around Rs 1.35 crore in the town, inferior material is being used. Similar is the reaction of Parmanand Singh of Manjhaul, who says that the quality of work in the ongoing development works under the Manjhaul subdivision, has suffered.
"What can I do when I am in charge of four-five departments? The works are bound to suffer on account of lack of full-time officers", said an officer wishing anonymity.
It is to be noted in this regard that besides the DDC and AC, the posts of district panchayati raj officer, the district provident fund officer, the district accounts officer and two out of four executive magistrates have been lying vacant in the collectorate here. According to official sources, nine posts of BDOs out of 18, three posts of circle officers out of 11 and two posts of DCLR out of five in the district are vacant for months now, affecting the development works.
The officiating DM, B K Pathak, could not be contacted for his comments.