BIDAR: Vacant posts in Government departments and unstable tenures of officials are hampering development in the backward district of Bidar.

The district has seen four Deputy Commissioners, three Chief Executive Officers of the zilla panchayat and three Superintendents of Police in three years. There are nine posts in various departments to which Karnataka Administrative Service officers have been traditionally posted. But there are only two KAS officers in the district now and the other posts are vacant. The Headquarters Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner is holding charge as the Special Land Acquisition Officer for the Karanja irrigation project and the Gulbarga-Bidar railway line. The post of the Assistant Commissioner of Basavakalyan is vacant for over a year now. The Assistant Commissioner of Bidar has been transferred and no one has been appointed in his place. The posts of Administrative Officer of the Basavakalyan Development Authority and Chairman of the Narasimha Zarni Temple Trust are vacant.

The Deputy Secretary of the zilla panchayat has been transferred and the new incumbent is yet to take charge. The post of Tahsildhar in Bhalki is vacant. Similarly, two of the six town municipal councils have no Executive Officers.

Police Department

The Police Department is also facing a similar problem. The posts of six Circle Police Inspectors have been vacant for over a year now. As much as 30 per cent of the Sub-Inspectors' post is yet to be filled.

One out of every three posts of doctors is vacant in the district. Specialists are even harder to find. There are only three gynaecologists against six vacancies in the district and only two of them are women.

The Forest Department is managing without a Range Forest Officer in Bhalki for the past seven years. None of the six sanctioned posts of Agriculture Officers in Aurad has been filled for more than five years now.

Misconception

Most people believe that it is the misconception among officials about Bidar being a hot and dry district which has led to this situation.

"Few people know that it is a cool, green district situated at an altitude of 3,000 ft above sea level, receiving 900 mm of rainfall a year. The State Government should publicise these facts, if not for tourists but at least among its officers who refuse appointments in the district," the BJP leader and secretary of Saraswati School, Revanasiddappa Jalade, said.

"I do not understand why a transfer to Bidar is perceived as a punishment posting. Even the State Government seems to believe so. The former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna warned erring officials during an inspection in Mysore that they will be given punishment postings in Gulbarga and Bidar. Similarly, the State Government admitted in an affidavit in the High Court that a former Commissioner of the City Municipal Council was transferred to Bidar as a form of punishment. Development will remain an elusive goal until this attitude persists among government officials," Mr. Jalade said.

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