PANAJI
The Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Nilesh Cabral said on Monday that his department is saddled with an acute technical (engineering) staff shortage and is facing difficulties in executing several works.
"We are working with barely 50 per cent of the required engineering staff strength," Cabral said, adding that almost 400 of the PWD's 750 sanctioned posts of engineers are vacant.
Cabral made the statement in the backdrop of a recruitment process to fill nearly 350 posts initiated in the run-up to the February 2022 Assembly elections being held in abeyance.
The recruitment process was kept on hold after serious allegations were levelled against Cabral's predecessor Deepak Pauskar accusing him of auctioning the junior engineer posts for large amounts of bribes. Some ruling party legislators, including current Revenue Minister Atanasio Monserrate had made the allegations.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had then ordered a vigilance probe in his previous term which Cabral said is still pending.
"There is no decision on scrapping the recruitment in its entirety which has been communicated to the department," Cabral added.
The minister claimed that several files related to the department remaining pending for clearance by the Chief Secretary was also impeding the functioning.
"The Chief Secretary is also the PWD Secretary. Many files are pending with him and I am following up," Cabral said, adding that he may ask the Chief Minister to reshuffle departments among Secretaries.
Meanwhile, Cabral who as minister for power and renewable sources of energy had launched the Electric Vehicle subsidy scheme in the previous term, expressed surprise and ignorance over the reasons behind the State government discontinuing it from July 31 this year.
"It may have been stopped either due to shortage of funds or because the set targets had been achieved," Cabral said, adding that he will speak to the chief minister and the Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar to find out.
The subsidy scheme was introduced to lure vehicle owners to switch to the environmentally cleaner electric vehicles. Cabral was also the environment minister then.
