Rayagada: Work in the district fisheries department has come to a halt as a majority of the posts in the department are lying vacant, affecting the interest of the local fishing community, a report said.
Rayagada is an industrial district of southern Odisha. Pisciculture is one of the chief occupations of people here. However, many fishery projects in Rayagada are dormant thanks to the staff crunch.
The office of the district fisheries officer (DFO) is located in the district headquarters and this position has been lying vacant for over two years. Koraput DFO Arun Kumar Behera is in additional charge of Rayagada district. Out of 13 posts of assistant fisheries officer here–one each in every block and two at sadar–six are lying vacant.
The district has two posts of senior technical fishery assistants lying vacant. So are several other positions like a stenographer, a computer operator and three clerks. Allegedly, a junior officer of Ramanguda has gone on a leave for past four months.
The state government has been making tall claims on its policies and programmes pertaining to wellbeing of fish farmers in the state. Crores of rupees are spent on implementation of such programmes in the state. On the contrary, the state is still dependent on fish from Andhra Pradesh and other states, fish farmers alleged.
It is learnt that over Rs 1 crore has been spent in the district towards fish farming over past four years. The fund was spent on digging fish ponds for farmers, pisciculture, distribution of fishlings and training fish farmers and purchasing fish medicines.
On being contacted, DFO in-charge Behera said, “There is a shortage of staff in our department and we are facing difficulties in managing the day to day affairs. We have informed the higher-ups about this”.
Fish farmers in the district have demanded intervention of the District Collector for immediate filling up of the vacant positions in the fisheries department.