BHUBANESWAR: The State Cabinet on Wednesday restructured the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) cadre by increasing the mid and senior-level posts in view of the diverse and key role played by the officials during any exigencies including pandemic and disaster management.
Though their achievements do not come to the forefront, OAS officers played a crucial role in the Covid-19 pandemic management during the last two years.
As per the restructuring proposal, the cadre strength has been increased by 220 from the existing 1,903 to 2,133. However, there will be no increase in the base-level posts of OAS Group A (JB), which is 1,188.
While the OAS Group A (SB) posts have been increased from 330 to 385, the OAS supertime posts will go up from 235 to 270. Similarly, OAS (Superior Administrative Grade) and OAS (Special Secretary) posts have been increased from 125 to 215 and from 25 to 65 respectively.
Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra said the officers of OAS cadre serve the State in all fields of administration including implementation of government schemes and programmes with citizen centric approach.
As the government schemes and welfare activities have increased manifold during the recent period and utmost importance is being attached to transparency and efficiency, there is a need to increase posts at different levels according to the need of the departments, he added.
Besides, due to increase in posts at the base-level, there is a need for enhancement of posts at the middle and senior-level to augment promotional avenues, he added.