Over 1 lakh government jobs vacant since 2016, says Assam govt

Guwahati: Over 1 lakh government jobs are vacant in the state since 2016, Minister Ranjit Kumar Dass said on Tuesday, in response to an unstarred question raised by Debabrata Saikia, Leader of the Opposition, in the ongoing Budget Session.

A total of 1,07,149 posts of all grades in over 50 state government departments are vacant since 2016. 

The list, which EastMojo has accessed, says that the Education Department has the highest vacancies with 50,465 vacant posts in all grades lying since 2016.

The Home and Political Department has 20,248 vacant posts since 2016, followed by the Health and Family Welfare Department with 9,353 vacancies.  

The Environment and Forest Department have 2918 vacant posts, followed by the Irrigation Department with 2253 vacant posts. The Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department (AH&V) and Panchayat and Rural Development Department (P&RD) have 2,152 and 2,137 unfilled posts, respectively. 

The Public Works Department has 1308 vacant posts in grade 3 and grade 4 positions. The Revenue and Disaster Management Department has 1139 vacancies across all grades.

Also Read: Almost 30,000 posts in Assam Police lying vacant: CM

A total of 1,005 posts in grade 2 and grade 4 positions are vacant in the Public Health Engineering Department. The Guwahati Development Department has over 1092 vacancies in grade 3 and grade 4 positions. 

A total of 678 posts in all grades are lying vacant in the Judiciary Department since 2016. Social Welfare Department has 666 vacancies in grade 3 and grade 4.

In the Secretariat Administration, over 719 total posts in grade 3 and grade 4 are lying vacant. In the Sports and Youth Welfare Department, around 712 posts are unfiled in all grades.

In many departments, the numbers of vacant posts are more than 100. Only in 16 departments, the vacancies are below 100, including 2 vacant posts each in Chief Minister’s secretariat, Public Enterprise Department and Pension and Public Grievance Department. 

However, Education Minister, Ranoj Pegu on Tuesday replying to a question by Palasbari MLA Hemanga Thakuria, said, “We have taken steps to fill all the vacant posts. Many might think that the Education department alone has more than 50 thousand vacant posts or over one lakh vacant posts in Assam. But in reality, we don’t have those much vacant posts.”

“The government has to create new posts to achieve the one lakh jobs promise including in the Education department. The lying posts in primary education will be filled and will be incorporated in the one lakh job promise,” Pegu added. 

On May 11, a high-level committee headed by Finance Minister Ajanta Neog was formed to assess the feasibility and appoint one lakh youths in government jobs. 

Addressing a press meet in June, Neog had said, “We have asked departments to send us the vacancy list on a need-basis. We’ll start the appointment process after we get the vacancy list. The process will be transparent and without loopholes.” 

The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government in Assam came into power with a poll promise to provide Assam government jobs to one lakh unemployed youths in the state.