RAJBIRAJ, JANUARY 12

Staff crunch has affected regular service delivery at District Administration Office in Saptari for quite some time now.

The office has jurisdiction to monitor government offices across the district but as it is grappling with staff shortage, it has also compromised on the office's daily work and service delivery.

The effect on its daily work has been telltale after even the existing employees were transferred elsewhere.

The office has posts for three administrative officers, but only one officer is at work now. The other two posts are lying vacant. Similarly, five positions for first and second-class non-gazetted officers are also lying vacant. "Earlier we had two administrative officers, but as one of them has got a transfer letter and is set to leave for another office very soon, we have only one administrative officer left to run the office" said Chief District Officer Janardan Gautam, who shared the difficulty the office faced when the working staff fell ill.

"Now also, as our administration officer is on leave, we've convinced the transferred officer to stay here for a few days and cover for the officer on leave for a few days before he leaves," Gautam added. Meanwhile, two area administration offices in the district are also facing similar plight.

According to CDO Gautam, Bodebarsain Area Administration Office and Kanchanrup Area Administration Office are operating without any section officer.

"As there are no section officers, these offices are run by junior staffers," he said.

Further, the CDO also lamented that there hadn't been any attempt from the offices concerned to make up for the staff crunch.

"We've frequently reported to the centre about staff shortage, but so far nothing has happened to resolve the crisis," he said.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 13, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.