MALKANGIRI : Vacancies in various staff positions have taken a toll on SOUTHCO office under Malkangiri division.Although the number of consumers is going up every year, manpower in the office has not been increased which is having an impact on the quality of services. 

Of 20 sanctioned posts of Office Assistant (Class-III), 10 are lying vacant. Similarly, four posts of lineman-B are vacant. In the lineman-C category, there are 32 vacancies and 76 helper positions are vacant against the sanctioned 39 and 79 posts respectively. There are no junior technicians against 33 posts.Meanwhile, the number of SOUTHO consumers has crossed 1.5 lakh under Malkangiri division. To add to employees woes, their salary is not being paid on time.