Key posts vacant in Nurpur circle, dev works take a big hit

With posts of Executive Engineer (XEN) of the Public Works Department (PWD) in the Nurpur and Indora divisions lying vacant for the past several years, development works in the Nurpur and Indora Assembly constituencies have been affected.

The development works under the MLA’s Local Area Development Fund (LADF) have also been stalled even as requisite funds have been deposited with the PWD.

A post of the Executive Engineer that was vacant in the Fatehpur division for the past some time was filled two weeks ago.

As of now, the Nurpur PWD Circle has four divisional offices at Nurpur, Jawali, Indora and Fatehpur. The XENs are available only in Jawali and Fatehpur, whereas Nurpur and Indora divisional offices are being run with stopgap arrangements.

MP Dhiman, Superintending Engineer, Nurpur PWD Circle, when contacted, said the Fatehpur Executive Engineer had been given Nurpur division’s charge whereas Jawali Executive Engineer had been asked to oversee the Indora division.

He said the information pertaining to the vacant posts in the PWD’s division offices was being sent to the high-ups every month, but the posts were yet to be filled in the Nurpur and Indora divisions. Not only the ongoing works have slowed down in the Nurpur and Indora divisions, the preparation of estimates for new works are also getting delayed.

Contractors working in these divisions are a harried a lot as their payments have been delayed and new tendering process has also come to a halt. The affected contractors rue that their payments have not been released since March. Small contractors are facing financial stress due to the failure of the PWD to release their payment for a long time.