BENGALURU: As many as 2.55 lakh government posts are lying vacant, half of them in the education, health and police departments, which play a crucial role in government. With the State government committed to implementing the Seventh Pay Commission in the next few months, the government is expected to bear additional financial burden. Experts suggest that the government should cut down unnecessary posts and also outsource some of the posts.
As per data available with The New Indian Express, of 2.55 lakh vacant posts, over 75,000 are in the education department (higher and school education), 35,196 posts in the health department and 22,069 in the home department, with a large number of posts related to teachers, health workers and police constables respectively. Apart from this, around 10,000 posts each are vacant in the revenue, RDPR, animal husbandry, finance and Schedule Caste welfare departments.
Sources in the government said the Congress had announced it would fill all vacant posts in the next few years. “Filling up 2.55 lakh vacant posts will be challenging, and implementing the Commission’s recommendations will be even more challenging as it will have bigger financial implications. The sanctioned posts are 7.2 lakh, and though there are 2.55 lakh vacant posts now, they will increase as and when people retire,” the source said.
A senior official said that on average, the State government is spending Rs 65,000 crore annually on salaries. “There is a demand to increase basic salary by 40 per cent and it is before the Seventh Pay Commission. If the panel recommends it, the government might need another Rs 12,000 crore and if all vacant posts are filled up, the finance burden will increase further,” the official said.
Former chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, who also headed the Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission, said that if many posts of Group D staff and drivers are outsourced, it can reduce the financial burden to some extent. Also, posts in some departments like First Division Assistant and Second Division Assistant can be redistributed as much of the work is computerised.