Varinder Sharma, district education officer (elementary), Ludhiana, said, “Two posts of deputy district education officers are lying vacant. Though hard-pressed, we have been trying to keep a vigil on important matters.”

He further said that projects like Mid-Day Meals, Sarv Shiksha Aabhiyan etc required a lot of field work. “Although with the help of block primary education officers we are trying to handle the situation, yet there is a dire need of deputy DEOs. With their appointment, it would be possible to do regular and routine monitoring even better,” he said.

Similarly in district education office (secondary) also, two posts of deputy district education officers are lying vacant. Here, it is Sudesh Bajaj, the district education officer (secondary) who is controlling the situation.

Not only officers but clerks are also overburdened. Narinderpal Sharma, general secretary, and Iqbal Singh, president of Punjab Education Department Ministerial Staff Association Ludhiana Chapter, said, “The post of director, administration at Education Department Punjab is also lying vacant. It should be filled at the earliest, so that many works lying pending may be completed.”

While Paramjit Singh, also a member of the association, said, “Many cases of promotion on the pattern of 4-9-14 are lying pending. According to Assured Career Progression, an employee gets the increment after four years of service if there is no complaint against him, and then after nine and 14 years. But in the absence of director administration, the files related to ACP are lying pending and hundreds of employees all over Punjab are waiting for these to move.”

He said that vacancies of administrative officers, superintendents, senior-scale stenographers, senior assistants should be filled without delay as all the staff have been doing almost double the work for months.