Manoj Kumar
Tribune News ServiceLudhiana, May 28
The economical and statistical department of the district, like other districts of the state, is in a mess due to lack of adequate staff and non-cooperative attitude of local industry to provide the required information. Since there is no law to force the industrialists and other respondents to provide information, the field staff face immense difficulties to collect the data on production, employment and other factors.
Sources in the department say the ban on the recruitment of the staff has badly affected its functioning. A number of persons have retired and the work- load has increased manifold due to the expansion of the industry. The government seems to have totally ignored the department in the name of financial crunch.
Sources in the department say the department has been headless for the past over three years. Mr Mewa Singh, Deputy Economical and Statistical Advisor (Field Operation) at Chandigarh, has been given the additional charge of Deputy Economic and Statistical Advisor for the past over one year. He visits the local office twice a week, and sits in the head office at Chandigarh for the remaining days. Department sources say that due to lack of any head on a permanent basis, the department is in a bad shape.
Mr Mewa Singh, when contacted at Chandigarh denied all allegations. He said, “Despite shortage of staff we are trying our best. The government should implement the Collection of Industrial Act for the state also. It will help in the collection of data on time. Presently, the post of a research officer and a district statistical officer are lying vacant.” The department officials, however, add that about 10 posts of investigators, clerks and other staff are lying vacant, thus affecting the functioning.
The department is supposed to collect and compile data regarding the industry, agriculture, transport, trade and other sectors of the economy in the district. Investigators in the city and blocks are expected to compile that data. However, due to lack of adequate staff , the work is being totally ignored. “We are not given adequate travelling allowance or required facilities to do our work. We would have left that job long ago if there had been an option,” says a demoralised official.
Interestingly, the staff is still busy in collecting data for 1999-2000. No one knows when would be the data for the year 2000-01 collected. On the other hand, the head office has published the data for the year 2000-01 after extrapolating the figures of the previous years. These figures are published in the Statistical Abstract, a publication of the government. The district hand book, a publication, has not been published since 1996 due to shortage of required funds. The information collected by the department is used by the Finance Ministry and other departments to prepare policies for the state. However, experts raise serious doubts about the authenticity of the information. A senior official of the department, on the condition of anonymity, says “Lack of adequate staff and the non-cooperative attitude of the private sector have made our work very difficult.”
