Over 70,000 posts lying vacant, Sukhu govt to frame policy soon

SHIMLA With more than 70,000 posts lying vacant in various departments, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s government will be framing a policy to fill up the vacancies. The Congress had promised to fill the posts in its poll manifesto. A cabinet sub-committee meeting on employment opportunities was held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan and detailed discussions were held regarding the vacant posts in various departments of the state government. Other members of the subcommittee, including revenue minister Jagat Singh Negi and education minister Rohit Thakur, were also present in the meeting. The cabinet sub-committee held the second round of discussions on Monday. The three committee members met again to finalise the draft policy. The Congress had promised one lakh jobs a year during the elections. The committee sought an opinion from the law department on framing the policy for making direct recruitments to fill up the vacant posts. Around 70,000 posts of different categories are lying vacant in various departments, said the industries minister. During the past five years, 2,375 posts were filled through the HP Public Service Commission, Shimla, and 15,706 posts have been filled through HP Staff Selection Commission, Hamirpur. The cabinet sub-committee has expressed concern over the slow recruitment process and discussed mechanism to speed up the process. “People in the hard regions are facing hardships due to the posts lying vacant, especially in the education department,” said Harshwardhan Chauhan. “Filling up the posts is the government’s priority,” he said. About 16,000 posts are lying vacant in the education department and the government is looking forward to fill these posts at the earliest.