Friday deadline for new panchayat secretaries

Sangareddy: The State government issued a new deadline for the newly selected panchayat secretaries to join duties by Friday. If any candidate fails to join by the stipulated date, the government will take the final call about their employment. There are 647 panchayats in the district and among these, 195 secretaries are working.

The State government sanctioned 446 posts of panchayat secretaries to 452 villages which have no secretaries. The selected candidates were given appointment letters in the first week of April. There are 49 candidates among the 446, who did not take appointment orders till now. The 362 candidates out of the 397 who had taken the appointment letters joined duties. However, there are still 35 candidates yet to join the service.

While speaking to The Hans India here on Wednesday, some of the officials said that 49 selected candidates did not take their appointment letters and 35 of them did not join even after receiving employment orders. Hence almost 84 selected candidates did not join duties, they added. For all these candidates, the government extended the deadline till this Friday. However, the State government may cancel their appointment orders or may even extend the deadline, if possible, they added.

According to the officials, there are many reasons for several candidates not showing interest in joining. It is believed that some of the selected candidates have already been settled in the public sector. Also, some candidates may not like to work in rural areas.

The official machinery has made temporary arrangements. The newly joined panchayat secretaries have been given additional charge as in-charges for the nearby villages, which do not have panchayat secretaries. These in-charges have been appointed to look after civic issues like hygiene, drinking water, street lights etc.