PANJIM: PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on Monday admitted that he is having difficulty in carrying out various works as the Public Works Department is presently working with hardly 50 per cent of the required engineer’s staff strength.
Cabral said that of the 750-odd vacancies of engineers in the PWD, almost 400 are vacant.
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He recalled that a Vigilance Department inquiry was ordered in the PWD staff recruitment by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant during his earlier tenure and the recruitment process for over 350 posts was kept on hold.
To a question, Cabral said no decision regarding scrapping has yet been communicated to the department.
“Chief Minister will look into the matter. The case is with the Vigilance Department,” he said.
Further, Cabral said that the PWD has been allocated to the Chief Secretary, who he added, was busy and files remain pending.
He said that he will discuss with the Chief Minister to give a separate Secretary, who will be proactive.
The Minister also informed that data regarding potholes in the State is available to the PWD online via the app which is deployed for intra-departmental coordination. The Integrated Operations Management Systems App is built using Freethink Board and the app will be made available to the public in the next phase for grievance redressal.
Conceding that the potholes which were patched using the jet patcher machines have resurfaced at some places, Cabral said, “At least there is accountability this time and the process is much better than what was adopted before.”
He said, “The PWD will continue for some time as per the work order issued to the company.” “By next monsoon, there should not be an issue of potholes in the State,” he asserted.
