75 pc niabats without naib tehsildars
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, February 1
Though Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seeks to introduce e-governance in the state, he does not seem to be aware of the staff crunch at the lower level. Sources in the district administration told The Tribune that 12 of the 16 niabats in this border district were without their boss (naib tehsildar) for quite some time now.

Naib tehsildar looks after the administrative affairs of the niabat to provide effective administration in these smallest administrative units. Apart from this, he also plays a vital role in providing good governance to the people at their doorstep.

Sources added that people of Rajouri, Koteranka, Sunderbani and Nowshera niabats are lucky enough to have a naib tehsildar whereas people living in the rest of the niabats have to suffer.

“We have to go to Koteranka for even getting income certificate issued. Since we are poor people we cannot afford to spend Rs 40 as fare to reach Koteranka from here”, rued Maulana Fareed, a resident of Buddhal area here.

“The Chief Minister may be thinking of introducing e-governance in the state, but the fact of the matter is that we don’t even have officials at the niabats level in Rajouri district”, said a source in the district administration. “Now that the concerned recruitment agency for naib tehsildars has declared the examination dates for the vacant posts throughout the state, we are hoping that situation will be normal soon”.

Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Rafiq told The Tribune that the shortage of the naib tehsildars is the entire state. Since the Service Selection Board has advertised the examination dates for conducting examination for recruiting naib tehsildars, the district administration here is hoping that it will get the requisite staff, he added.