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Archit Watts

Muktsar, February 14

A number of key posts in the civil administration and the Police Department are lying vacant in Muktsar district. As a result, day to day working has taken a hit.

Various key posts, including SSP, SP (Detective), ADC (Development), Malout SDM, Gidderbaha SDM, block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) Gidderbaha and block primary education officers (BPEO) Malout, Gidderbaha and Lambi are lying vacant. The additional charge of Muktsar SSP has been given to Faridkot SSP and the SP (H) holds additional charge of SP (D). Both these posts had fallen vacant around two weeks ago.

Further, the additional charge of ADC (Development) has been given to the ADC (General).

According to sources, since June 2022, no regular ADC (Development) has been posted in the district.

Notably, the district has three sub-divisions—Muktsar, Malout and Gidderbaha—besides it has 234 villages. However, there’s just one regular SDM in the district. In such a situation, the additional charge of Malout SDM has been given to Muktsar SDM.

Likewise, the additional charge of Gidderbaha SDM has been given to Muktsar district revenue officer. Both of them visit Malout and Gidderbaha twice a week.

Shockingly, there’s no regular tehsildar in Gidderbaha for the past two years and a naib-tehsildar holds the additional charge.

On January 31, Gidderbaha BDPO retired, but since then nobody has been deputed at his place.

Further, the additional charge of BPEOs of Gidderbaha, Malout and Lambi has been given to the BPEOs of Muktsar-I, Muktsar-II and Doda.

The executive officer (EO) of Muktsar Municipal Council holds the additional charge of Bariwala Nagar Panchayat EO.

No SSP

• The vacant posts include those of the SSP, SP (Detective), ADC (D), Malout and Gidderbaha SDMs.
• “Several key posts are lying vacant. We are hopeful that the officials will be sent through fresh orders,” said Muktsar Deputy Commissioner Vineet Kumar